Twin Spiders
by mg56
Summary: Boomer needs to earn his spurs, and investigating an evidenceless crime spreed might help. As long as he doesn't uncover a huge conspiracy within the SSR of course... FINISHED
1. Chapter 1

**This is Version 2 of this chapter. There's nothing new, I just tidied it up a bit. Okay.**

Hello again. Welcome to the start of the next Saga of stories.

If you haven't read any of my stories before, I seriously suggest you do, or you will be lost very quickly. I was planning to summarise all of them on my profile page (and I may have got round to doing that if you look,) but if I haven't, up can find a summary of the first three at the start of "Parallel Lives" (my fourth story.) Other then that, I don't have anything to suggest just yet.

For my regular readers, if you've forgotten everything about "Tangled Web," it might be worth re-reading it, quickly at least. It will help you work out what's going on before our heroes do.

One other note; this is my first story to be given a gene and it's a mystery, mainly because let it never be said that I'm afraid to try something new (and I can here my Brother laughing from here. Also, he'd like me to note that I have a bad record of not confusing people in this type of story, but I will do my best.)

So, if your one of those people moaning that no writes anything other than romance in this section of the site, this story may have something to offer you.

One last thing, if you do have any criticisms, please tell me, as that's the only way I can improve as a writer. Right, that's enough blab from me, lets get started.

**

* * *

1.**

_The mind started processing, for the very first time, in pain. It felt like the body was being crushed inside a balloon, which was slowly squeezing it tighter and tighter. It was especially painful around the fingers and the toes, as it forced it's was in between them._

_Eventually, it breathed. A muffled yelp of delight came from somewhere, but it couldn't respond, as it was too busy trying to repeal the liquid it had just breathed in. It couldn't. Forcing its eyes open, it appeared to be in a vat of some sort of yellowing liquid, tubes attached to its body. There was no hope of survival. All its senses buzzed crazily in wild panic, relaying an unreasonable amount of information to the brain, in the vain hope that it would be able to save itself._

_It couldn't, but it didn't die. Not this time. Suddenly, all the water drained away, and it fell, landing on its hand and knees, vomiting wildly, throwing up bile and blood from its lungs. Just in front of it, someone was studding it closely. Eventually the vomiting stopped, and the recently freed thing collapsed from exhaustion. But as it fell to the ground, the observer started speaking._

"_At last, after six attempts, all my…._

MJ woke up screaming. It was just a brief one though, before she gathered herself. It had just been a dream. A dream she'd had rather a lot recently, but still just a dream.

Okay then, a nightmare. She sat up in bed, and tried to clear her thoughts. Sure, it was gone now, but MJ was worried that if she when back to sleep, it would return. That awful felling, as if she was dying. The young Spider-Puff, just turned seven, switched the bedside light on. Maybe reading a bit would put her at ease.

She heard footsteps outside. Someone must have heard her scream. She waited for either her mum or dad to open the door, but to her surprise, it was neither.

"You alright?" asked Edward, her brother. He'd still led with the same opening line though.

"I'm alright," she replied, "just had a bad dream." Edward nodded.

"The same one?"  
"Yes… err nearly." MJ shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

"I… I think that I survived this time," MJ looked down. Edward put his hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Hey, that's a good thing! I once had a sequence of dreams like that, and they didn't stop until I'd… err survived. So maybe that's it."

"Really?" said MJ hopefully.

"Sure," said Edward, who also reckoned it would help if MJ didn't think the dream was going to come back. "You feeling any better now?"

"Yes thanks."

"No problem. Do you want a glass of water or something?"

"Err, no." MJ paused. "Why are you still up? Did I wake you?"

Edward shook is head. "Can't sleep," he said.

"Why, you too excited?"

"About what?"

"You know, starting High School," said MJ, "You must be really excited!"

Edward looked at MJ with a hint of contempt. "The start of a new Formula One season is something to be excited about sis, not starting high school."

"Why?" asked his confused sister. "I mean, you're not exactly a nerd, so you're going to be with the cool kids, right?"

Edward sighed. "You watch too much T.V."

"I didn't watch the entire Le Mans 24 hours live!" retorted MJ.

"Only because Mum sent you to bed!" said Edward. "No, what I mean is, that the 'cool' kids generally get crap marks and are often complete dicks, and the 'nerds' can be dicks too, but don't always get good marks."

"I don't get it," said MJ, "on T.V…"

"No ones going to make a television show – or write fan fiction for that matter – on what high school is really like. Yes, you will get eaten alive by the 'cool' people if you don't fit the mould, but just because they class you as a 'nerd' or 'geek' or in English, 'boffin,' doesn't mean you're intelligent, it just means that you stick out. No, most people fall in to the invisible category, and forget bulling and relationships crises, the battles we fight is a one personal against the school bell. Getting from one end of the day to the other with out making our selves a target for the preppies or the teachers. That's the real objective of High school. And it takes a lot to pull it off. The most intelligent person in a class is the person that everybody knows the name of and only a few people know anything else about, until they pop up in the top three of the school at the end of the year."

MJ was now confused. "Are you talking to me or yourself?" she asked eventually.

"So the trick is to work hard but not to show it off," Edward finished, answering MJ's question. "Do you think that's a good plan?" he asked nervously.

"I… err," MJ had no idea. "Why are you worried? I though you were going to be a rally driver or something?"

"Yes, but It's not that simple," Edward explained. "I mean, if it all goes down the pan, I'd like to be in a position to stay on and do A-levels."

MJ nodded. "You could be come a superhero instead," she suggested.

"Nah, that's your dream," said Edward dismissively. "Hang on a mo," he suddenly changed tone, and shot out. MJ sat up for a moment, and waited. Edward returned with a set of clothes.

"I stitched this for you while I was suspended from school." MJ scooped it up.

"You sowed?" she said.

"What's wrong with me sowing?" asked Edward indignantly. "I was bed ridden most of the time… and I liked pretending the pedal on the sowing machine was an accelerator."

MJ had a look at what Edward had given her. It nearly made her cry. "You did this yourself," she sniffed through happiness, "THANKS!" she grabbed him for a hug.

"You're crushing me!" said Edward. MJ released slightly, giggling delightedly. Edward composed himself, and got up to leave.

"Don't tell Mum or Dad 'cause they'll kill me," he said, and left. MJ picked up the clothes, and looked at them once more.

"Hehe, Spider-Puff," she said to herself.

* * *

Sonic was still up too. This was because he was on night duty. For the first time ever.

"Dammed Blossom," he said grumpily, "I should never have given her the right to set MY duty router." But he didn't really have much power over her anymore, so it was difficult to force her to give him nice shifts.

Still, it was bitterly cold as he plodded uncharacteristically slowly through the streets. Suddenly, something sped overhead. Sonic Jumped. He had no idea what it was, but a brief look might liven up his night.

* * *

Okay, I'm very sorry that that had none of the normal characters in it. This is not what I normally do. Okay? Please review and I'll sort it out in the next chapter. Thanks. 


	2. Bonues

**2. Bonuses**

It was ten o'clock the following morning. Blossom was working in her office – she paused for a moment just to enjoy the fact that she had an office – when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Blossom said cheerfully, and Bubbles entered.

"You wanted to see me Blossom?" she said calmly.

"Ah, hi Bubbles. There's some sort of thing going on in Argentina, not entirely sure what but the local division wants some support…"

"And because I'm good with languages your going to send me," finished Bubbles. Blossom nodded.

"I've read the file," she said, handing it over, "nothing too bad, but I'm afraid it's a bit complex, so it could take you up to a month. That okay sis?"

Bubbles glanced over the file, her blue eyes gleaming as she scanned it. "You underestimate me Blossom," she said, closing the file and tucking it under her arm, "I'll see you in a week." With that she smiled briefly and left.

Blossom considered the conversation for a moment. Sure, Bubbles could be a fairly confident person, but that had been bordering on cocky.

"There's something up with her," said Buttercup as she slipped into the room, picking Blossom's thoughts out from her head. The Pink puff knew Buttercup was right, but still she had to take issue with something.

"You're supposed to knock before entering," she said for the umpteenth time.

"That's only for official business," said Buttercup calmly. "This is gossip; I don't need to knock for that! Anyway, I checked on the Chaos Emerald this morning, and it had gone. Do you think Bubbles has taken it? I mean she does seem different at the moment."

Blossom let the knocking point go, something she'd regret latter. "How do you mean, different?"

"Don't tell me you haven't noticed!" said Buttercup, obviously surprised. "Her posture, the extra confidence, the sort of… well… I don't know, presence she know seems to carry with her, it's almost as if she's… higher?" she scratched her head. "I don't know. It's difficult to describe."

"Don't worry, I get you," said Blossom, "and I have noticed. But it can't be the Chaos Emerald, because Sonic said he'd dealt with that. Maybe she's just happy or something, I mean, you sometimes have a similar glow, and you had it a lot just after you got married."

Buttercup snorted. "Not like that! I think we should keep an eye on her."

"Yes, I was thinking that too."

"Then why did you just send her out of the country!" Buttercup lent across the desk.

"That's official business," said Blossom smugly, "now you have to go out and knock."

Buttercup looked at Blossom disapprovingly. "Must we always do this petty point-scoring Blossom? This is a serious conversation, about the safety of our sister."

Blossom paused, and nodded. "Your right Buttercup, I'm sorry."

"Okay, that makes it 2-1. Now, why did you send Bubbles away if you wanted to keep an eye on her?"

"I didn't," said Blossom, "Sonic did. But he was on a night shift last night so I had to tell her." She looked at her watch. "Do you think ten fifteens to early to wake him, because I have some important paperwork for him to go through…?"

* * *

Sonic staggered across from his bed and to his desk. He grabbed the coffee mug and eventually found his mouth, only to spit it back out again.

"It's not as good as the stuff you used to make!" he said to Blossom, as he flumped into the chair, and stuck his feet on top of the desk, rubbing his eyes.

"I did warn you about putting Crash on coffee duty," Blossom replied.

"Yeah, well if he wants to date my daughter his is not getting an easy ride from me!" Sonic responded. "Come on Blossom, just make me one cup, no one can ever quite get the same texture as you."

Blossom laughed. "That's 'cause I add an extra ingredient," she said calmly, "I'll sell you a bottle if you like, but my coffee making days are over." (As were the spitting in Sonic's coffee days, but maybe he could add it him self.)

"Fine," said Sonic grumpily; he was not a morning person. "Anyway, what's this about, it better be important."

"It's the first draft of document we have to summit to the House of Representatives for viewing and consideration regarding the submission and distribution of capital exceeding what is expected to employees that have contributed at a greater echelon than required, under section 3.3.2 subsection d of the Superhuman Situation Response policy statement."

Sonic blinked. "What?"

"Well, as I just said, it is the first draft of the document we have to summit to the House of Representatives for viewing and consideration regarding the submission and distribution…"

"I know, I know, but what does it mean?"

"It's the list of staff bonus payments that we have to send to the Washington bigwigs so they can check we aren't over paying ourselves," Blossom explained.

"Ah, bonuses," Sonic's ears pricked up. "Take a seat."

Blossom glanced at the chair. If she sat down, her nose (or the place where her nose should be) would be directly level with Sonic's feet. "I'd rather remain standing if that's okay with you," she said.

"Suit yourself." Sonic thought for a minute. "Now, this year, the document has to be as transparent as possible. We don't want to give then an excuse to put some know-it-all government official in charge, do we?"

"Of not course Sonic," said Blossom loyally and with feeling. "We can't have those idiots from Whitehall running the place! It would be a disaster."

"Err… idiots from Capital Hill Blossom," said Sonic calmly, "and we don't have A-levels in America, but otherwise you're quite right. So, where's this transparent document?"

Blossom dropped a huge pile of bound papers on the desk; the force of them falling nearly knocked Sonic off his chair. He recovered, and thumbed though it.

"Twenty Thousand pages," he mused. "Good work Blossom, no chance of them wadding through all that. This must have taken you hours."

"Yes, it took me seventeen, but it was all worth it."

"Good. Where's the summary sheet?" Blossom handed the one page summary to him. Sonic scanned though it. "Good, that says everything they need to know. Is the top bonus really just $1000 this year?"

"Yes, for the normal heroes I'm afraid so," said Blossom. "Due to our strict bonuses policy, no one was really eligible for large payments this year, and the average payment is only $600."

Sonic smiled, looking down the list. "Which makes our payments?" he asked innocently.

"I've got one hundred thousand dollars; you've got one hundred and fifty thousand," said Blossom as calmly as she could. Sonic paused.  
"A _bit _more than everyone else," he mused, "but no more than we've earned. No chance of the government finding out about it?" he asked nervously.

"Not unless anyone is willing to read up to page 1,537 in appendix z."

"Good girl Blossom," said Sonic calmly. "I think I'm going to buy a yacht. What about you?"

Blossom smiled. "I think the money will help start Edward's motor racing career since that's not cheap, and me and Eddy have never really had much money before."

Sonic nodded. "I'm surprised your conscious lets you get away with this."

"It's on holiday," said the Pink Puff calmly, "after fifteen years of none stop work it deserves a break."

The door to the office was opened. "Dad," said Sonia, "there was some sort of bank robbery last night, and they want us to send someone to have a look."

"Thanks dear," said Sonic. "I think me and you shall have a look Blossom," he said, "because on the way back, I think I owe you lunch."

The two of them were nearly at the door, before Blossom said, "hang on Sonic, which bank?"

Sonic paused for an unusually long amount of time, before he clicked. "Good point," he said, with a hint of nervousness, "Sonia dear, which bank got robbed?"

* * *

Boomer was in the SSR's gym, working over his upper body a bit. He'd never have the physic of Butch of course, but it paid to stay in shape. And there were televisions in the gym.

"Hi," said a voice. Boomer jumped and dropped the weights. "Hi Bubbles," he said swinging round. She smiled, and glance at his upper arms.

"Working out I see?" she said, running her hand down it. Boomer chuckled.

"Just a little bit," he said nervously. Bubbles nodded.

"Listen Boomboom," she said _(sorry, can't remember who I stole that from, mg56.) _"I've got to go away for a week."

"Why," said Boomer, trying – and failing – to hide his disappointment.

"Oh, something in Argentina, shouldn't take too long. But I've got to go now."

"Oh." Stiff upper lip he thought. "Okay then," he tried to sound happy. Bubbles looked at him straight in the eyes, and Boomer felt strange; almost as if she was sucking out his deepest thoughts. Whatever, he liked it, staring into those Emerald Blue eyes.

She smiled at him, and ran her other hand down his front. "But, normally I get a week or two off when I get back from these trips, so why don't we take a holiday somewhere, just you and me, eh?"

"Yeah," said Boomer, gently holding her round the back. Then he stopped. "Can we afford it?" he asked, concernedly.

"No problems there, the bonuses will be in," she replied. "You just keep working out, okay?" And with that, she turned on her heel and left. Boomer watched her all the way. There was something different about Bubbles, he thought to himself. But it wasn't a bad thing. If life got less exciting when you were married, he hadn't seen it yet. If anything, Boomer thought that he loved her more now.

He wasn't the only one that was looking, but Boomer was so wrapped up in his own little world he didn't notice. He swung round to pick up the weights again, and glance at himself. Bubbles wasn't the only one who was looking better, he thought. He'd never really had a proper six pack before (unlike his brothers.) Strange it had only really developed in the last three months.

"Hi bro." Boomer jumped again.

"Does everyone have to sneak up on me!" he shouted. Butch didn't even blink.

"Yes," he said. "Come on, they've just put the Bonus sheet up. What to have a look?"

* * *

There was a huge throng of heroes gathered around the notice board. Boomer didn't see Bubbles, she must have gone. Most of the heroes were muttering about the stinginess of the system, which Boomer didn't think boded well, but when he and Butch had eventually rammed their way to the front, he didn't expect what he saw.

"Nothing! Not a dime! Even Earthworm Jim got something!"

"I'm sorry Bro," said Butch as he pulled the two of them out of the crowd, "but I did tell you this job doesn't pay well."

"Then how come you and Buttercup live in such a large house," asked disgruntled Blue ruff.

"I've told you before; I do a bit on the side. Like that Egyptian pot I took from the museum as 'evidence' goes up for auction tomorrow, and Mojo pays well for favours."

"But we can't really break the law…"

"I'm not talking about breaking the law," Butch explained. "Like last week, Mojo has this project he's working on, he needed a bit of "Puff" energy to get it working, so I have him some. That's not illegal, is it?"

"No, but would Buttercup approve?"

Butch shrugged. "I've got to do it Boomer; I have to find some way of making her as happy as she deserves to be, seeing as I can't give her the child she really wants." He looked at his feet. Boomer thought of Bubbles, and the holiday.

"I'd still rather not break the law," he said, "I don't want to get fired or anything, Bubbles would kill me… or worse."

"Then maybe you should talk to Sonic about it," suggested Butch. Boomer considered this suggestion for a while.

"I'll talk to Blossom," he said.

* * *

Okay thanks for reading, please review. The plot will get going soon. 


	3. The Criminal Mind

Hia, sorry for the terribly long wait, I've been very ill over the last week and a half, so haven't even been able to sit up, let alone write. It's going to take me a little while to get back in to the swing of it again, so here's a short chapter to get me started. Sorry.

**

* * *

3. The Criminal Mind **

As Blossom scanned around the room behind, Sonic just looked at the hole in the door of the vault. Eventually, he decided to pick her brain.

"What are you thinking?" he asked. Blossom paused momentarily.

"Nothing," she said.

"Nothing! You must be thinking something!"

"Don't get me wrong Sonic, I'm thinking something," Blossom reached down and flicked up the corner of the carpet, before shaking her head. "The something I'm thinking of is nothing."

Sonic was not greatly pacified by this response. "Could you elaborate perhaps?" he said impatiently. He was hungry.

"Okay," Blossom took a step back and thought for a moment. "Nothing makes sense. For a start, I can't identify a point of entry. All the locks are undamaged and there's no holes in the walls or anything. Secondly, once in the bank, the criminals haven't left anything. Not even a hair! It's as if they didn't even step on the floor. Add to that the hole in the vault." She walked over to it, and felt round the inside. "It's too small for a start; only a child could have crawled through. And it's a perfect circle, completely smooth. How was it cut?"

"Power saw?" suggested Sonic.

"Yes, but if that was the case, why aren't there any metal filings of anything on the floor around the door?"

"Maybe they cleaned up after themselves," Sonic suggested.

"There's only ten minutes of security footage missing," said Blossom dismissively, "they would have had to be going at quite a rate. Put even if they did, why would you go to all that effort only to steel a suitcase of money?" She showed Sonic the inside of the vault. "Nearly everything's been left! Plus no sigh of a getaway car or anything like that. It just doesn't make sense!"

Sonic nodded and looked at his watch. "Okay," he said, "you can have a think about it over lunch."

* * *

Blossom was still thinking about it that afternoon, when there was a knock on the door. She recovered from the shook of someone actually knocking before entering fairly quickly. 

"Come in?" she said, wondering what it was about. Boomer stuck his head round the door.

"Is this a good time?" he asked nervously, "because it isn't that important really."

"It's as good a time as any," said Blossom, who was hoping that it would help her take her mind off things. Boomer entered fully and stood in front of the desk, twitching uncomfortably. This worried Blossom slightly. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes, fine," said the clearly not fine blue Ruff, "I was just wondering if it would be okay for me to inquire about the fact that I haven't got a bonus this year."

"That's it?" said Blossom surprised, "I thought you'd done something awful."

"Why?"

"Because you're extremely tense."

"Err… that's because I heard a rumour that the last person who complained about pay got pushed out a top story window," said Boomer, who still refused to relax.

Blossom laughed. "That's just a rumour," she reassured, "the complaint wasn't about pay. Anyway, you said you haven't got a bonus?"

"That's right," Boomer relaxed a bit as Blossom flicked through a couple of pieces of paperwork, before acknowledging the fact with a nod. However, he returned to full-on nervous mode when Blossom reached forward and pressed the intercom button.

"Sonic, why haven't we given Boomer a bonus?" she asked while the Blue Ruff tried to control his breathing. He shouldn't be this scared of the person who could fire him, should he? Boomer had to admit he'd been fired quite a lot during his life, by a wide range of super villains. Maybe that had made him paranoid. Still, explaining his latest cock up to Brick hadn't been much fun back then, he doubted explaining it to Bubbles would be any better.

"Did you have to involve Sonic!" he hissed. Blossom looked up.

"He's not going to do anything Boomer," she said.

"He could fire me!"

"Sonic? He'd never be bothered to do the necessary paperwork."

The SSR's leader shoved open the door. "Okay, the reason Boomer hasn't got a bonus is because he hasn't solved a single crime since he's been here."

"What?" said Boomer, "but what about that Kryptonite thing, I helped with that!"

"Yes," admitted Sonic, "but you were off duty at the time, so that went down as an overtime payment, and everything else you've done has been… well rubbish."

Blossom blinked. "That answer your question Boomer," she asked, slightly shocked. She wondered how many other heroes had managed to do an entire year around this place without actually achieving anything. Probably quite a lot of them.

Boomer looked rather defeated, but Sonic was looking at him in a strange way. Blossom slowly recornised the expression; a plan was developing in the back of his mind, and it wasn't necessarily a good thing…

"Boomer, come with me for a moment," Sonic said suddenly. Boomer jumped, and looked at Blossom for direction, showing his usual lack of self leadership. Blossom nodded for him to follow, so he did.

* * *

Sonic closed the door of his office behind Boomer. "Take a seat," he said worryingly kindly. Boomer did so, and Sonic sat down opposite. "So," said the hedgehog, "you want a bonus." 

"Err… yes."

"Right, well that report is only a first draft, so there is still time for you to earn one. You see I have a job for which you are perfectly suited."

"You do," said Boomer excitedly, with no suspicion what so ever. How were you ever a super villain, thought Sonic to himself, your so trusting.

"There's been a robbery at the ITCD bank, as you may have heard," Sonic lent back on his chair, "and it's got us rather pickled." He put his face into a suitably taxed expression. "The evidence is quite… spars and contradictory. The only thing we can agree on is that which ever gang did this, they are likely to strike again. So I was thinking, since you are the latest "convert" from the criminal world to the SSR, your expert understanding of the criminal mind could just be the key we need to crack it."

Boomer had never been called an expert in anything before, and he was predictably flattered. "Really?" he said. Sonic nodded smugly.

"Absolutely, so if you want it, it's your investigation. And if you solve it, I'll give you a bonus. Okay?"

"Sure, great, thanks!" said Boomer enthusiastically. He got up to leave. "I'll start right away!"

"That's the sprit," said Sonic happily, "take Sonia with you to help."

"Thanks Sonic," said Boomer nodding, and he left.

The blue Hedgehog sat back in his chair. That had gone better then even he could possibly have expected. Sure, Boomer did have an understanding of the criminal mind, but not a very good one. In fact, Sonic reckoned that the only reason the Ruff's had swapped sides was because they were such terrible Super villains. They'd defiantly been doing something wrong, since despite having the fantastic claim that their brother had killed Superman, both Butch and Boomer had been broke when they'd swapped. Pure incompetence, thought Sonic.

He was 90 certain that Boomer's incompetence could be relied upon in this case too. Which was perfect as far as Sonic was concerned, as it would give him time to sort it out with no interference…

* * *

This shall henceforth be know as, mistake number one.

* * *

Okay, as I said, sorry for the delay and the length. Please review, thanks. Oh, and I'm having probelms with my document manager at the moment, if anyone else is too, please say. Thanks. 


	4. Progress, but In a Good Direction?

**4. Progress, but In a Good Direction?**

_She glanced around the room. It was small, with a pillow and a bed mat, a water bowl, and a food bowl. The latter was empty. Above there was one light bulb, and one small window. The room was so small that she found that she could touch all four walls at once._

_She felt like a caged animal. Then again, she wasn't human, so it was fair, in some respect. She still couldn't think properly though; the lingering of twisted memories and an animal desire for food often overriding sane and rational thought. But something did occur to her; a name might help. A name… where could she find one…_

_Something clicked. The water bowl. One of those lingering memories told her that they often put the name of animals their bowls. She swung it round. There were two symbols. She looked at them. Dam, what did they mean? She couldn't read. It was frustrating; she was so close to finding something out about herself. Focusing really hard, she trying to interpret it. And suddenly, it clicked. SP._

_It wasn't much of a name, but further examination showed there was nothing else on the bowl. So that was it. SP sat back for a moment and thought. What did it mean? Did her name matter? Not really, she supposed, since she had a purpose. A mission. A life aim. She smiled to her self. Not many people knew what their purpose in life was, but she did. And she was determined to fulfil it._

_For now, she'd forgotten what the purpose was, but that wasn't a reason to take importance away from it. Someone would remind her in due course. Maybe she should not worry about who she was then, and focus on doing her job… what ever it was supposed to be. But all thoughts were destroyed in her head by a smell. A familiar smell. It flooded up her nose and assaulted her brain. Uncontrollably, she threw her self at a hatch, biting and snapping for the blood soaked meat that was inched away from her mouth…_

MJ bit her arm, ending her day dream will a scream. It also earned her a detention.

* * *

Boomer looked at the hole in the vault himself. Blossom had been right; it didn't make any sense. How had they managed to rob the place? He stood there for a long time, just staring.

Next to him, Sonia – Sonic's daughter – waited patiently; poised to write notes on his thoughts. After ten minutes, she spoke.

"Err… what are you thinking?" she asked. Boomer jumped.

"I was thinking what I'm going to have for super," he admitted.

"Shouldn't you be thinking about the crime?" suggested Sonia.

"Yes, yes, I should, shouldn't I." Boomer tapped his chin, trying to look knowledgeable. "Right, well, if they came in and… no… umm… I think they could of…no…" he sighed, and sat down. "It's no good," he said, "I can't think. I'll never get that bonus. I don't even know where to start."

Sonia looked at him. "Haven't you ever done this before?" she queried. Boomer nodded. Sonia was confused. "Why are you doing now then?"

"Because your father said that I could have a bonus if I did," Boomer responded dejectedly.

"There has to be another reason," said Sonia, "I'm sure dad had a reason. I mean, he wouldn't just give you this case so you could make a fool of yourself."

"You don't know your father very well, do you," said Boomer. Sonia gave him a dirty look, so Boomer went on. "No, he said that I have an understanding of the criminal mind."

"Why?"

"Because I used to be a super villain."

"Okay," said Sonia, "well, maybe he's right. But you might not be thinking about it the right way." She paused. "Maybe, you should take a different approach. Perhaps," she said, raising her finger in a moment of realisation, "you should think about what you'd do if you were robbing this bank!"

"Easy, I'd just bust through all the walls and get the money," said Boomer sulkily, "I'd never mess around with security camera footage and stuff."

"You're not trying," said Sonia, "just pretend you have a device that could cut through a vault and make the hole like the one here, which will still can't explain."

"Okay," said Boomer nervously.

"Good," said Sonia, "so, would you enter. Remember, you are trying to be stealthy."

"I'd probably go through the roof then," he said. They both looked up at the ceiling.

"They didn't," said Sonia, but Boomer suddenly stood up. He prodded the ceiling at a point, and a piece of fresh plaster fell away, relieving a hole in the ceiling. Sonia was amazed. "How did you see that?" she asked.

"X-ray vision," said Boomer. He studied the hole. "It's been ripped," he said, "layer by layer."

"You'd have to be a superhuman to be able to do that," said Sonia. Boomer nodded.

"It's similar in side to the hole in the vault too," he said excitedly. "So," he swung round, "the burglar jumped in, after ripping through the hole, then he fired…"

"She."

"What?"

"Could have been a she," reminded Sonia.

"Okay, the thief landed hear, and fired a weapon of some sort, that cut a hole through the vault!" he paused. "What weapon… something very quick?"

"Why do you think that," asked Sonia, happy that the blue ruff seemed to be on a roll.

"If I was robbing the place, and I had to plaster over a hole in the ceiling to cover my entry route, I'd need to cut the hole quickly." He thought for a moment. "Maybe acid," he said excitedly.

"Acid?"

"Yeah, to cut through the metal vault, by eating it away!"

Sonia looked doubtful. "Acid isn't going to cut a perfectly round hole," she said. "Anyway, there would be splash back as the liquid hit the door. That would damage the floor."

Boomer considered this. "Maybe," he said, "but if they plastered over the ceiling to hide a hole they used, surely they'd be able to sort out the floor."

Sonia shrugged. "Possibly," she said. "Only one way to find out." The two of them pulled up the carpet, and sure enough, acid soaked, damaged floor border resided below. Boomer and Sonia stood back.

"Okay," said the ruff, "so we know how they did it."

"There are still some problems," pointed out Sonia, "I mean, why did they try to cover it up? Think about it, if the thief ripped a hole in the roof, shot acid through the vault and grabbed the money, in say thirty seconds? Then why did they spend so much time covering there tracks. Why not just run?"

"Maybe they wanted to make sure there was no evidence."

"Possibly," said Sonia, "but we've worked out how the crime was committed, yet we are no closer to saying who did it."

"Unless," Boomer said, "it's a very distinctive Superhuman who did it! Someone who sticks out like a sore thumb as the obvious perpetrator of this crime! So all I need to do is to use the database to find a mutant that can fire acid, rip through a roof, grab money, fly back up through the hole, and escape without a car…"

"And is about the size of a child," reminded Sonia. Boomer nodded. Then he froze.

"I've thought of someone," he whispered.

"Who?" asked Sonia. Boomer jumped.

"Err, no one, no one. Let's go write this up shall we?"

* * *

Butch was at home, relaxing. It was a peaceful evening, he thought. And a good evening. Dinner, wine, theatre, home, bed. That was the plan. And he was doing it with his beautiful wife. It would be perfect… in his almost perfect life.

All this needed paying for though; there's no such thing as a free lunch. So to that end, the phone rang. Butch glanced around to check that Buttercup wasn't around, and then answered.

"Hello?" he said, but he knew who it was.

"Hello son, it is me, Mojo Jojo, your father, that is to say creator, and therefore related to you in a…" Butch took the phone away from his ear for about ten minutes. Then he put it up again. "… and the creator of a new plan which will make me extremely rich and…"

"Hold it there Mojo," interrupted Butch, "you can't tell me the plan!"

"Why not," whined Mojo, "You helped with the plan, your helping now."

"Yes," agreed Butch, "but I still don't know the plan, and as long as I don't know it, I can't tell the SSR and I can help. But if I know the plan, I'm obliged to inform my boss of it."

"Why?" asked Mojo, surprisingly briefly.

"Because I don't KNOW that the plan is illegal."

"But you do know that it is illegal."

"No I don't," said Butch calmly. "I can assume that its illegal, but I don't know for sure."

"Okay, okay," said Mojo hotly. "All I want to know is what is good to steal right now, as in what is good to be taken without the permission of it's owner for the purpose of permanently denying the own of the privilege of owning it and to make me, Mojo Jojo, the new owner of said item, as opposed to the former owner, who was no longer the owner because I am the new owner, having requisitioned it form him without his consent."

Butch had had enough of listening to his dad, even if he was paying him for his advice. Anyway, he'd heard movement from upstairs. "There's a very expensive vase on display in the museum at the moment, try that." he put the phone down, and turned to greet his wife.

Buttercup emerged from upstairs, wearing a tight, long black dress, that opened between her breasts, and cut very low down her back. It didn't reveal anything private, but it got as close as possible. She also wore a beautiful elaborate (and obviously expensive) diamond and silver necklace, and her hair cupped around the side of her face. She smiled gently.

"How do I look?" she asked. Butch didn't need to do any elaboration.

"Incredible," he said, trying to avoid his mouth completely drying out. Buttercup relaxed.

"Good, because it would have been really annoying to go to all that work for no gain, wouldn't it!"

"Don't worry," said Butch, putting his arm round her as low as he thought he could get away with, "as soon as we get home, we'll get you into something more comfortable, okay?"

* * *

Okay, thanks for reading, and please review. Sorry for the length at the moment, but I think I'm beginning to get the hang of this again. P.S if you have any criticism, please tell me. Thanks. 


	5. Racking Up

It has just occurred to me that I haven't done the disclaimer yet, so here we go; I do not own any of the Powerpuff girls, Rowdyruff boys, Eddy, Sonic the Hedgehog, or Mojo Jojo. (If they appear, I also don't own Death, Roland or any members of the SSR. I think I've mentioned Crash Bandicoot and Spiderman, and I don't own them him either.) I **do **claim ownership of Edward, MJ (and, "SP" whatever she is), Sonia and Percy the security guard (but not the Green Engine), but feel free to use any of them in your stories if you want, as I can't afford to sue. If there is anyone I've missed, I don't own them either. Okay, thanks.

**

* * *

5. Racking Up**

_SP pushed at the grate at the end of the vent. It fell away. A long way. She supposed she was still inexperienced at this sort of thing as it clattered to the floor far below. Still, no alarms went off, so she thrust her self out, and fell down, down, down into the huge panoramic room._

_She landed neatly on all floors, and scuttled gracefully across the smooth museum floor. She slipped gingerly under a velvet red rope, and stood back up on all fours by a glass case. Inside was a vase._

_It was a very dull vase, SP thought. Not particularly attractive all. But apparently, it was very old, and therefore worth a lot. SP didn't really understand this, but she had a job to do. There was no reason to question it. Remember what you were told, she thought, get the vase if you want to be fed._

"_Halt, who goes there?" a voice sounded from across the room. SP swung round, but her instincts had already took over, and she ducked away from the torch light._

"_Hello?" said the voice again. Its owner approached, SP could here his footsteps gently tapping on the floor, getting closer and closer. They were the steps of someone in smart black shoes, a source of information in her head that she didn't know she had told her. It had to be a security guard. SP winced and closed her eyes; was he going to get her?_

"_Hello little girl," the guard said. SP paused for half a second that felt like a year, and then acted. Her leg shot out at lightening speed, and she kicked his legs away. As he fell to the ground, she used her hand to launch her self into the air with amazing strength, smashing through the glass with ease, and grabbing the vase under her arm as she shot past it. Instinctively, she wiped out her free arm, and webbing shot from the wrist, hitting the ceiling and swinging her up and back into the vent. Then she crawled, desperate to get away with out damaging the vase…_

* * *

Percy the security guard scrambled to his feet. "Good grief," he said, as her watched the blur disappear into the vent with the vase. He had to get after her/it. He was just about to radio for back up and give chase, when some one covered his mouth with a cloth from behind him, and he blacked out.

* * *

MJ woke. She was shocked, but not surprised. Another strange dream, it was getting a bit repetitive. At least she hadn't bitten her own arm this time.

As she reflected upon what she had just seen, MJ wondered whether she was really strong enough to propel her self into to the air with her hands, like "SP" had done in the dream. She was awake now, so there was no harm in giving it a go. The Spiderpuff scrambled out of bed, lay with her back on the floor, put her hands behind her legs, kicked up her legs and pushed the ground with her hands.

And as her dad scolded her for thudding into the wall so hard that she'd woken up the entire house, MJ mused to herself that she'd gone a lot higher then "SP" had managed in the dream, and she hadn't even been trying as hard.

* * *

Boomer sat at a desk in the general working area of the SSR building the following morning. It was a bit like the quite working area in your school library, a place where people who are not important enough to be given a desk of their own can go to do the occasional bit of paperwork. Of course that's not the analogy Boomer would have used, since he'd never been in a school library.

For now, he was looking at the evidence from the case that was sprayed out on the desk in front of him. He was trying work out the two problems he still had with the case;

Why anyone would devise a plan that allowed them to perform the robbery in thirty seconds, only to take very little money and spend twenty minutes cleaning up after themselves?

Was there anyone other than MJ that fitted the profile for the criminal?

If the answer to the second question was no, then the answer to the first question was probably inexperience, Boomer thought. But he couldn't think like that. If there was one thing that being in crime had taught him, it was that you knew who your friends were, and that you were loyal to them. Blossom and Eddy were friends, (well, now he knew Blossom hadn't killed brick, they were,) so Boomer was very reluctant to put their daughter in jail. There had to be some evidence that would clear her… or he needed to make some up.

"Hi Boomer, how's life without Bubbles?" Boomer jumped; Blossom had crept up on him.

"Err, its fine," he said as her scrambled forward to cover his private case notes by spraying evidence all over them. This was a lie, since he missed Bubbles awfully, but the case was distracting him from his pain quite a lot.

"Good," said Blossom, who was slightly confused by Boomer's reaction. "And how's the case."

"Good, good!" Boomer stuttered far too quickly, "I'm just… err... marking out the locations of all the crimes on a map, to see if there is a pattern or something."

Blossom glanced at the map. Being a generally nice person, she tried to let him down gently.

"It's a…err… good idea Boomer," she said, "but it is kind of difficult to see a pattern when there's only been on crime."

Boomer glanced at the solitary dot on the map. "Yes, I suppose it is," he said. "Ah well, I'll, err try something else."

"Well good luck with that," said Blossom, "I know you'll do Bubbles proud."

"Would it make her proud if she came back to find that I'd got her niece jailed?" Boomer muttered to himself once the pink puff had gone. Probably not, but it wasn't going to happen, Boomer was sure of that. Either he'd prove that someone else did it, or he'd leak to the press that it was the original Spiderman, and let justice take its "natural" course while they kept it in the family. I mean, it wasn't as if anyone had been hurt was it! It was just a bit of harmless theft. Only a year or so ago, he'd been doing that everyday, it was only natural for MJ to want to experiment, the little scamp. I mean, if his kids never experimented with crime, he'd be very disappointed. (_Please note this is not the author's view, so don't sue me! _**Mg56**)

Still, Boomer wanted to get to the bottom of this, for his own piece of mind, and for his bonus. So Boomer was about to start rifling through his evidence again, when Sonia approached his desk. He stopped to greet her.

"Sonia!" he said warmly, "Any thoughts?" he asked hopefully.

"Only one," said Sonia calmly, "that there's been a robbery down at the museum and dad… I mean Sonic wants us to take a look. The police think it's the same criminal, on the grounds that there's no evidence…"

* * *

This crime scene was a lot larger than the one at the bank, but Sonia and Boomer were quickly able to apply there knowledge of the previous crime to the situation and deduce a fair amount.

"Right" said Sonia, "so the grate that covers the front of the air vent is bent, showing that it fell a long way to the floor."

"So that was the entry point," confirmed Boomer.

"And no acid tricks this time, the cover was just smashed and the vase was taken."

"That's right."

"So the question is," said Sonia concernedly, "what happened to all the forensic evidence?" Boomer thought for a moment.

"If I was cleaning up after my self from a crime," he said slowly "I'd bin any evidence like that." he looked around. "This is a museum! There'll be lots of cool places to hide evidence that can't be hoovered up!"

Sonia looked confused. "I don't get it," she said. Boomer nodded, but rather then answering, he set off into the rest of the museum, following a sign on the wall. The two of them walked in silence, until they reached the natural history exhibit. In front of them was a huge model dinosaur (as all museums like to have at the start of their prehistoric exhibits, except the Natural History Museum in London, which has more taste, and puts them half way through.)

"When I was young, I always dreamed of hiding loot from a crime inside a dinosaur," said Boomer dreamily, "but Brick said it was a stupid idea."

"If there's any evidence in there, he was right," said Sonia. She climbed up and had a look, reaching deep into the creature's mouth. Sure enough, her hand remerged with some items that should not have been in there. Sonia, slightly in awe of Boomer's "genius," climbed down and handed it to him, but what should have been a moment of great triumph for him was filled with disappointment.

"Webbing," he muttered, looking at the sticky stuff in his hand. It was just like the stuff MJ produced, like Spiderman's. He sighed. So his niece must have done it.

"That's not all," said Sonia, "I've got some air too!" Boomer glanced at it. The few strands in Sonia's hand were the perfect length for MJ's hair. Then he looked again. Suddenly he snatched the hair off his Hedgehog companion and stared at it. But however hard he looked it didn't change. The hair was the right length for MJ's, but it was the _wrong _colour. Rather then being red, it was black, as black as Buttercup's in fact. He gaped at it.

"What's wrong?" asked Sonia, confused again. Boomer couldn't help but smile.

"Unless they've dyed their hair, it wasn't who I thought it was," he said happily. Of course it could still have been MJ, Boomer knew this. But now he had the evidence he needed to "prove" that it wasn't, even if it was! He turned to the Dinosaur. "Thanks mate," he said happily, and was about to leave, when he spotted something in the sand upon which the dinosaur was mounted.

"Sonia," he said, "can you bag that evidence and then show me you're foot."

"Sure," said the hedgehog, and she did. Boomer looked at it, and then the sand. There were a few footprints in the sand. Some belonged to Sonia, who had obviously walked those few steps to access the dinosaur. But one set belonged to someone else…

* * *

While they were at the museum, they learnt something else too. That the security guard who was supposed to be on duty had clocked on that evening, but had not been there come morning. Hence, Boomer and Sonia decided to pay him a visit.

"I always thought there could be a second person involved in this," said Boomer as they rang the door bell. "I mean, the evidence doesn't point to the kind of criminal that would clean up after themselves. But if there was another person there to clean up after they'd gone…"

"A security guard would be good for that role," agreed Sonia. She rang the door bell again impatiently (a trait of her father.) "What if he's not in?"

"Then he's obviously fled with the money," said Boomer. But the door opened moments latter. A man stood there looking very ill.

"Hello?" he said weakly.

"Hi," said Boomer in as friendly a tone as he could manage. "Sorry to bother you Percy, we're from the SSR and we need to ask you a few questions about a robbery last night."

Percy looked at the two of them. "You better come in then," he said. "Do you want a cup of tea?

As they sipped their tea, Boomer asked his question; "Why did you clock on at the museum last night but not stay to finish your shift?"

Percy sighed. "It was really strange. I was doing my patrol as normal, when I heard a clang from around the Roman exhibit. I went to have a look, and found a small girl round a corner. It rather caught me off guard, silly for a security guard I know, but you don't really think of children that young as criminals even if they look a bit strange. But by the time I'd got a brief look at her, she suddenly took my legs away from underneath me, and I fell onto the floor. I got up quickly, but she'd some how managed to grab the vase and swing herself up into the vent. Weird I know… well, maybe not for a puff and a hedgehog," he said nervously. "Anyway, I got up and was about to call for back up when I got knocked out by someone else, not the little girl you understand. When I woke up I was at home. Goodness knows how they knew where I lived, because we're not allowed to keep any addresses or such on us when we're at work, for our personal safety. Anyway, I called into work, but they said they knew the place had been robbed, and that they'd call me latter. I know it sounds strange, but it's true, I swear. But it has to be strange I suppose, or the police would be investigating it, rather then you guys."

"Okay," said Boomer, who was a bit annoyed that the museum hadn't told him that the security guard had called in, "I believe you Percy."

"So there were defiantly two people?" asked Sonia. Percy nodded.

"Unless the little girl was the fastest thing alive, yes defiantly two," he confirmed.

"What did she look like?" asked Boomer, worried know that his earlier hopes of clearing MJ where fading.

"She was… strange," said Percy thoughtfully. "She had black hair, about shoulder length, bright purple eyes, and two long sharp fangs, if you get my meaning. But it's difficult to say much else, since she was wearing a mask."

"A mask?"

"Yes, it was green, and had eye holes cut in it. It was almost a full head mask, like Spiderman's, except it was cut away just below the nose I suppose, so that the mouth and those teeth (he shuddered) were exposed. I hope that helps."

* * *

Back at "his" desk, Boomer was thinking – Sonia had taken the hair to the Professor for DNA testing. The Blue Ruff was concerned. It sounded like MJ, yet it wasn't. Was it? The mask was defiantly a good design for the kid, as it would allow her to use her puff eye blasts and her viscous teeth. Maybe someone was trying to frame MJ, possibly to get at Blossom (I mean, she wasn't short of enemies at the moment, even in the SSR) but if you were going to go to all that trouble, why use someone with black hair and purple eyes? Who had purple eyes anyway? And why dress her in green, surely MJ would wear Pink!

Still, Boomer knew something; that there was another person involved and that the footprint he and Sonia had recovered from the sand by the dinosaur was too big for a child. So it possible belonged to her assistant/master.

The evening newspapers were screaming about Spiderman having done it already, so Boomer felt that was as good a place as any to start. So he left his desk and went to see Sonic, as if anyone knew where Peter Parker was, Sonic probably would.

He knocked on his office door. "Enter," Sonic said. Boomer did, and was confronted by the hedgehog in his usual position, i.e. feet on the desk. "Ah, Boomer," he said, "how are things going?"

Boomer didn't answer immediately; he was staring at Sonic's feet. "I'm sorry," he said quickly, "I've forgotten why I wanted to see you," and he left rapidly, leaving Sonic a bit annoyed.

Boomer was so confused that he went straight to the toilet for a bit of privacy; where he sat down to think. To think about why he and Sonia had found Sonic's foot print in the museum…

* * *

Okay, thanks for reading. I'm afraid updates are going to get a bit irregular for the next three weeks, as I'm going to lose a decent internet connection for that period at time. I may get a few in, or there may be none at all. Please also bear in mind that this can stop me reading stories as well as writing them, it's just like at Christmas in fact. Anyway, thanks for reading, the above is not an excuse not to review, so please do so. Thanks, and I hope to see you all soon. 


	6. Trust Blossom

Of course when I said that updates would get irregular over the next three weeks, I meant that they'd get none existent. Anyway, sorry. Here's your next chapter.

Oh yes, and some of this chapter is an attempt at humour on my part, so feel free not to take all the lines too seriously. Enjoy!

**

* * *

6. Trust Blossom**

Blossom believe that as a mother, it was her job to prepare her kids for their future. That's obvious. She also thought that kids have no idea what's good for them and therefore anything she decided that they should do was correct and should be enforced upon them however much the two brats moaned about it.

So, as a direct result of this fairly normal approach to raising children, Blossom made Edward and MJ watch the evening news everyday before super, no matter how horrible the subject matter or how many people had killed in Iraq that particular day. As a result, MJ traditionally spent the duration of the half hour show trying to show her self drooling at the site of blood, and asking what was the 1925 peerage's act. Edward would sulk and make snide comments throughout the first part, and then tell everyone to shut up for the duration of the sports news. It must be said that Blossom didn't partially enjoy the experience either (there is no better way to ruin a good day then by watching the news) but she told her self it would be good for them.

Once the weather forecaster had finished informing the world that the good weather they were enjoying was going to disappear just in time for the weekend, Blossom turned off the television, and Edward and MJ immediately raced for the kitchen and food.

"Hey, wait a minute!" said Blossom indignantly, "I want to make sure you two where listening to that!" Both kids stopped reluctantly. "I want you to tell me an article you remember form the news!"

"No problem," said Edward immediately, "Michael Schumacher was fastest in practice for the San Marino Grand Prix, can I go?"

"A new article, not a sports one!" sighed Blossom (it had been a long day.) Edward opened his mouth to speak again, but nothing came out.

"Well, I bet MJ can't either," he eventually retorted.

"Actually," said MJ proudly and with unnecessary emphasis, "I did remember something so nah!"

"Really?" Blossom was pleasantly surprised. "What?"

"That pot that was stolen from the museum near, the one they said Spiderman was the chief suspect for."

"Yeah, I remember that one too," said Edward rather too quickly, "they had Sonic on saying how everything was under control, and that how two crimes don't constitute a crime spree."

Blossom her self didn't remember that part, since she always drifted off when she saw Sonic on the tele; he never had anything interesting to say. "Okay you two, let's go eat."

"It's funny," mused MJ, mainly to herself, "it was just like the pot that I stole in my dream last night…"

* * *

A life of being a superhero had taught Blossom not to believe in coincidence. MJ's "dream" of about steeling the pot, Spiderman the media's chief suspect, it was suspicious, no doubt about it. It might also have explained Boomer's nervousness earlier today; maybe he knew something.

Anyway, Blossom wasn't willing to take chances, so she was back in the SSR. Fortunately for her, Boomer being Boomer had left all his notes sped out over the desk, just as they had been earlier in the day. Blossom rifled through them slowly, but it didn't take her long to find what she was dreading. Two letters.

MJ

Blossom looked the page up and down in fear. It was all there, Boomer had worked out how MJ could have done BOTH crimes, and that no one else could have. The only problem in his theory was that the description of a small girl wasn't quite perfect, but there was a note to ask Blossom if MJ had died her hair or ever worn purple contact lenses, and that he some how had to obtain a DNA sample from MJ to check against the one from the crime scene.

Blossom was rapidly flooded with emotions. The bastard was going to try and trick her into proving her daughter's guilt. How could he! This anger was immediately replaced by the thought that she would have done exactly the same thing. This led to desperation. How could it be MJ? She was so young and innocent (Blossom conveniently forgetting the time MJ tried to eat her). What would happen if she was arrested? Blossom had heard horrible things about what happened to mutants that were locked up, especially young ones. It is said that three weeks inside can turn a petty thug into a career criminal, but Blossom suspected that with her impressionable and not totally sane daughter, it would take three minutes.

She wasn't going to let that happen! She would…

"Are you alright?" asked a voice. Blossom jumped. It was Buttercup.

"What are you doing here?" she asked her sister quickly, keen to draw attention from her self.

"I forgot my coat," said Buttercup simply. "Why are you crying?"

Blossom hadn't realised that she was. "I… had onions for dinner?" she tried. Buttercup wasn't buying it, unsurprisingly.

"Come on Blossom," she said, "don't go back to hiding your problems again, just tell me."

Blossom opened her mouth to object, but thought better of it and handed the paper over to Buttercup. The green puff scanned it, and turned back to Blossom. "It's not too bad," she said.

"HOW?" said Blossom, suddenly unable to control herself, "MY DAUGHTER'S GOING TO GO TO JAIL, AND SHE'LL FALL IN WITH THE CRIMINALS, AND I'LL LOSE HER FOR EVER!"

"Your glowing yellow," said Buttercup calmly. Blossom blinked, and then calmed down.

"Sorry", she said.

"Now don't worry," Buttercup put her hand on Blossom's shoulder, "he hasn't actually proven it yet, and knowing Boomer he's on completely the wrong track anyway. All you need to do is make sure that you know where MJ is at all times, and then when the next crime is committed, you have a full proof alibi, okay?"

Blossom nodded slowly. Then she smiled. "Okay," she said, "I know just how to do it."

"Great," said Buttercup, but the green puff wasn't totally in the room. Something had just occurred to her.

* * *

Butch threw open the front door furiously, and looked down at the figure below him.

"I told you to use the back door Mojo!" he hissed. Mojo looked about nervously.

"Your back gate is locked," he protested. "I've got the money though." He held up and briefcase which Butch immediately snatched from him.

"Okay, thanks. Is this from the pot?"

"Yes it is, that is to say that the money I just gave you which is concealed, that is hidden from view inside the briefcase that you are now holding was acquired, that is to say gained from the sale, that is the exchanging of money in return for goods of the afore mentioned piece of pottery."

Butch paused for a moment. "You mean yes?"

Mojo paused and considered his answer. "Yes, as far as yes is a crude simplification of what is a very complex issue."

"So I gathered," said Butch tiredly. "Listen, I'm expecting Buttercup back here any moment now, so you better scram. If you need any more ideas for our little friend's next robbery, I'll call you."

Mojo was about to reply when another voice cut in; "Oh don't leave on my account. I may even have some ideas for robberies of my own!" Mojo and Butch swung round, Mojo like a dear caught in the headlight, Butch like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar. Buttercup was standing behind them quite relaxed. Butch panicked.

"I can explain!" he tried, but his wife cut him off.

"Inside!" she said, "Both of you," as Mojo tried to sneak off. Butch went straight inside, sincerely hopping that Buttercup had not put two and two together and got four.

* * *

Eddy was washing up (i.e. shoehorning everything into the dishwasher) when Blossom arrived home. She dropped a pair of handcuffs onto the side next to him. Eddy looked down at them, looked up at his smiling wife, and then back down at the handcuffs.

"I didn't think our sex life was that bad," he said. Blossom clipped him round the head.

"There not for us, there for MJ," she said. Eddy dropped the plate he was holding.

"Bit young isn't she," he said as calmly as he could, which wasn't very. Blossom sighed.

"No, I want to make sure she's not anything to do with these robberies, so I was going to handcuff her to my self so that we could both sleep yet I'd know that she wasn't stealing things. Or, more to the point, since I'm on night duty today, she'll be handcuffed to you."

"That's okay," said Eddy calmly. "Wait! I've got a very important business meeting tonight!"

"Really, what about?"

"I don't remember, but it is very important!"

Blossom sighed. "Well I can't skip duty today, that would arose suspicion."

"Don't worry," said Eddy, "I think there is a perfectly acceptable solution for both of us…"

* * *

Blossom paced the roof tops impatiently. She was hoping for an alert of some sort; a crime that was similar to the previous two, so that her daughter would be proven innocent. Maybe she could even catch the real perpetrator, assuming it wasn't MJ. The other question of course was if it was MJ could she – and would she – cover it up.

She wondered to the edge of the roof and looked down upon the dark street below. There was a blue flash, and something whooshed by. It was Sonic, who was obviously off somewhere. It pleased Blossom to see him working as hard as everyone else. It made a nice change.

Except Sonic was supposed to be on a night off. So what was he up to…

* * *

Edward yanked on the cuffs angrily.

"Sit closer," he snapped at MJ, "I need both hands on the controller…"

* * *

Okay, sorry for the length. Please review, thanks. 


	7. Explaining Yourself

Before we go on, I'd like to thank those who review and read this story. I'd also like to apologise for the violence in this chapter. Sorry. Okay, I hope you enjoy.

**

* * *

7. Explaining Yourself**

_SP approached the building slowly, crawling along the side of a near by sky scraper. The air was cool and still, and a full moon filled the sky. The perfect night for a crime, SP thought to herself. Also the perfect night for werewolves, said one of those lingering memories._

_No one had eve actually told SP about monsters, but still, like all the our pieces of information that seemed to pop into her head from no where, she decided to act on it. After a brief scan of the area, she decided that there were probably none around right now, so she'd better take the opportunity to perform the robbery whilst she had it._

_Hurriedly, she swung across to the nearby building; the target. She smashed a window with her fist, and the shattering sound echoed around. The young mutant jumped at this as she had thoroughly spooked her self with all these thoughts about monsters. They could be right behind her, about to strike from the shadows…_

_She stood on a creaky floor board, and immediately let out a scream of terror, that reverberated around the dark shadowy room. Everything appeared to be moving, in that spooky way that shadows. SP jumped up on to the ceiling for cover, shaking and crying with fear._

_A light suddenly flashed into the room. "OI!" came a harsh voice. This was the last straw for the terrified Spiderpuff, and she hurled the first thing she could grasp in the direction from which the light was coming. A cry of "OW!" informed her that she had hit her intended target, but as she turned to run, something else activated her one of her senses._

_It was a smell. The hypnotic smell of Blood…_

_SP swung back round again, as the wounded security guard focused the torch light on her. What he saw was different to what he would have seen a few moments earlier. SP's eyes were burning purple, so much so that her pupils had disappeared. Her teeth shined with a moth full of acid, and her muscles had all tensed._

_As she approached the hapless victim, SP just about able to reflect that there had been no point in worrying about werewolves and such, for there was only one monster here…_

"_What the… no, stay back! AHAGHAA…"_

* * *

"…. AHGAGAHHAH!" MJ woke up at the sound of screaming, and found to her horror, that she'd just bitten deep into her brother's arm.

* * *

Butch and Mojo had been sitting in silence for an unreasonably long period of time now, in Butch's opinion anyway. Buttercup was taking her time about this; in fact she was currently stirring a cup of coffee. Mojo was sweating profusely next to him, but Butch tried not to show his current feelings.

He was dimly aware that he wasn't very good at it.

"Okay," said Buttercup finally. "Explain."

"Well I…"

"Not you Mojo," said Buttercup, quietly but dangerously, and Mojo shut up immediately. Butch took a deep breath. He'd played this conversation over in his head a few times before, but in his mind one of them had always been on their death bed!

"I have been doing various favours for Mojo over the years," he said, his voice only cracking slightly. "Informing him of potential targets that are badly defended, and perhaps guiding the investigations in to his alleged crimes in a favourable direction. In return he pays me. There's nothing directly illegal about it…" he continued more nervously.

"Except for the breach of the secrecy clause in your contract," said Buttercup bluntly. Butch winced slightly and stopped. "How long," she asked. "How long has this been going on for?"

"Six years." Butch decided to tell the truth. For once. Buttercup merely nodded. There was a period of silence.

"Look if I'm not needed here…" began Mojo, but the green puff merely raised her hand and he stopped.

"Tell me about this plan then," she said calmly to Butch. "Tell me what you know."

"Okay. Mojo came to me saying he had a brilliant plan, and all he needed was some energy from me. So I gave him some for a twenty percent cut in anything he earned from it."

"That's it?"

"Yes." Butch spoke with total certainty. Then he paused, "except that some of the energy I gave him came from you." Buttercup clamped her jaw down hard.

"YOU TOOK SOME OF MY ENRGY AND GAVE IT TO HIM!"

"Not Him, Mojo," said Butch, "and it was only because if I only gave him my energy it would explode!" he said hurriedly before his wife could. She opened her mouth to lash out at him, but composed herself, and turned to Mojo.

"And what did you do with the energy," she said, barely containing her anger. "And be brief!"

"Well," said Mojo enthusiastically, as all super villains do when they get to talk about themselves (know anyone like that?) "back from when I was temporally looking after MJ – by MJ I of course refer to the MJ that is Blossom's daughter, and by Blossom I mean the Blossom that is your sister, and by sister I mean Buttercups sister, not Butch's sister, for of course he does not have a sister – I was able to obtain a sample of her hair, by hair I mean the…"

* * *

Sonic stood over the body of the security guard. "Body" was not a particularly good word for it, since it had been completely destroyed. The corpse was therefore unrecognisable; chunks of flesh were missing from it, along with a few bones, that the spider-puff had crunched up during its feasting. Blood was everywhere, and so where the tell tail signs of a vain struggle, as a helpless man had tried to fight off the perfect killing machine.

Sonic _should _have been sickened by this. He should not have even been able to look at the sight before him. But a decade of war back home on mobius had hardened his stomach, as well as his mind, and as much as he hated to admit it – let alone remember it – he'd seen worse.

So Sonic snapped a pair of rubber gloves over his hands and grabbed a mop. "Time to do a spot of cleaning," he said to himself.

Suddenly, he was aware that he wasn't alone. It was the cry of "OH MY GOD!" that gave it away. Sonic swung round, just in time to see Blossom standing behind him. Sonic's brain went into overdrive. A brief flash back filled his mind, and suddenly everything went back.

* * *

Sonic collapsing was the last thing that Blossom had expected. She had been on the verge of deciding whether to hit him or to run and alert the police. Now it was irrelevant. She walked over to Sonic, and felt his pulse. He was defiantly still alive, so Blossom left him where he was.

Blossom had followed Sonic from when he'd seen him a bit earlier in the night. She thought that whatever the hedgehog was up to might have taken her mind off MJ. It had failed spectacularly, for a much as Blossom wanted to believe that Sonic had killed the security guard, she couldn't for a moment, because she'd found a strand of webbing outside. Gingerly, she approached the corpse, to try and prove her terrifying theory.

At the first attempt she failed, the sight was just too much for her; it was like nothing she'd ever seen. She'd seen dead bodies before (hell, she'd even made one,) but not like this. This was something else.

Second attempt, she managed it. The bones had in places been striped clean of flesh, huge tooth marks were everywhere, and she could smell the still fresh acid, that fortunately overrode the corpses own smell. Blossom stifled the tears with a little cry. It had to have been MJ. Who else could it have been?

She'd had enough of the body, so she threw a blanket over it. As she did, Sonic stirred.

"You alright?" she asked. Sonic sat up.

"I'm okay," he said distractedly, "just had a flashback from the war… and somewhere else."

"Where?" said Blossom, hoping to keep the conversation away from the subject of MJ for now.

"The words "Oh my god," was exactly what Sonia said when she found me with her murdered Mum and brother," said Sonic sadly. There was a moment of silence, and then Sonic realised where he was. "This isn't what it looks like!" he said hurriedly.

"Really," said Blossom calmly, "it looks to me like you're trying to clean up a murder so Boomer won't be able work out that MJ did it."

Sonic opened his mouth, and then paused. "Okay, it is what it looks like," he said obviously irritated.

"And you've done it for the other two too, haven't you," Blossom continued.

"No dead bodies!" protested the hedgehog, "only the evidence."

"Why."

"Why what?" said Sonic, proving as difficult as ever to abstract information from.

"Why are you covering up, and why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, either way it's the same answer. You and I need to avoid any more public embarrassment. We've somehow managed to get over the "murderer" tag, as the public and the media have selective memories. But, if we were to have another issue, like for example your daughter being a thief, then the media and the public would not forgive us again. They'd "remember" all the other bad things about us, and before you know it, Washington would be sending someone down here to pull the strings, which, as we've already agreed is completely unacceptable. So I had to keep it to myself… at least until I could talk to MJ."

"You could have talked to me!"

"Not really, your guilt would have got the better of you, and it would have slipped out." Sonic sighed. "I suppose I will now."

Blossom thought for a minute. "So the only reason you did this is for political reasons?" she said, slightly hurt. Sonic didn't even look at her.

"Bare in mind I know what it's like to be separated from my daughter and you'll know if I have another reason," he said.

Blossom sighed. "Now what?" she asked.

"Well we could clean up the body and pretend this never happened!" said Sonic cheerfully, but Blossom shot him a look. "I'll go call Boomer and Sonia," he sighed. "It is there case after all. You go home and see if MJ's still handcuffed up."

"Yes, I… how do you know about that?" Blossom asked.

Sonic chucked ironically. "You forget that the SSR is my home," he said, "so I overheard you and Buttercup earlier…"

* * *

Buttercup had finished listening to Mojo's story. There was complete silence. Eventually, Butch spoke. "If I'd known I'd have…"

"But you didn't because you didn't ask," said Buttercup blandly. She turned to Mojo. "Go," she said. "The kid will probably need feeding." The monkey didn't need asking twice.

Butch sat silently for just a moment before starting; "Buttercup, I…"

"Don't say what you're about to say," she interrupted, no longer even looking at him. "If you were really doing it for me you would have told me about it." Butch tried to think of something else to say, but couldn't.

"What are you going to do?" he asked instead. Buttercup still didn't look at him.

"That's my decision," she replied bluntly. "YOU should go."

Butch only paused for a moment before he left without a word. It was probably the only argument they'd ever had that had been completely one sided. He'd get her tomorrow though. For now, he needed to find a motel.

* * *

Back inside, Buttercup was in a mental mess. She'd had an inkling that Butch had been up to something, but she'd never talked to him about it. I mean, the money had been useful, and they'd always had more important things to worry about before.

But now MJ was involved, and Buttercup was angry. She was angry that she had thought this crime spree was harmless. Maybe Butch had thought the same thing.

Still, she had to decide what to do next. She could tell Boomer, but would that have Butch arrested? Maybe he deserved it. But then again, who was really being hurt by this? Only some faceless companies. Should she really destroy her marriage for that? As long as no one was being hurt, Buttercup decide, this was a problem between just her and Butch… and maybe Blossom and MJ.

* * *

Boomer had had to leave the scene of the crime. He couldn't stand the smell, and after he'd vomited the third time, Sonia had asked him to leave so she and the police could get on with it. Still, that didn't mean he'd got an easy way out.

He rang the door bell. It was still only three in the morning, but this was important.

Boomer waited for a while, but no one came. Maybe no one was in? His hopes were dash moments latter, when the door opened. Boomer took a deep breath.

"Mrs. Cole? I'm afraid I have some terrible news…"

* * *

Okay thanks. Please review, and I'll try to update soon. Oh yes, and I haven't quite forgotten that this story is supposed to be about Boomer, he's in the rest a lot more. 


	8. Under Pressure

Okay, let's start with two apologies. First, I'm sorry about the delay. Blame coursework and two people called Peter Ebdon and Graeme Dott.

Secondly as with most fan fiction writers, all my ideas are "inspired" from somewhere. It's only natural; if I was an original person I would write stories about my own characters. As a result, the previous stories have browed elements from various stories, from authors ranging from Charles Dickens and Terry Pratchett to just about every cartoon ever written. I even stolen jokes from my own brother, and then carried them out very badly, (sort of like Piers Morgan on "Have I got news for you", not that any of you know what I'm talking about now.) 

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I thought that a central theme of this story was original, only to find out today that it was the most blatant piece of plot stealing I've done thus far. So sorry to any of you offended by me stealing ideas (it's not from anyone on the site though,) but the plots gone to far to change it now. So no flames on the subject okay.

Right, on that note, I'll get on with it.

**8. Under Pressure**

Edward was not happy. "This is what parents are for," he shouted angrily, as MJ fumbled around with a bandage. "They should have been handcuffed to you, you psychopath!"

MJ couldn't really begrudge Edward this statement because she had bitten a chunk out of his arm. It was a deep wound, and if he wasn't half-puff, he'd surely be on the way to intensive care right now, so all things considered he was taking it quite well. Still, she put slightly more anti-septic on the wound to make it sting more than strictly necessary. Edward yelped in pain, as MJ tried to apply a bandage. It was difficult enough as she'd never done first aid, and the situation wasn't aided by the fact that she was still handcuffed to Edward.

"Hang on," she said, suddenly realising the futility of the second problem, and she broke the hand cuffs in the middle, finally allowing her to access Edwards arm. "Please don't tell mum about this," she said worriedly as she wrapped it, "she'll be furious."

"Ha, she'll probably blame me," Edward scoffed, remembering the 1st law of child hood (it is always the eldest child's fault.) He pulled his sleeve down over his arm. "There, other then the occasional yelp of pain, she won't know a thing!"

"Thanks," said MJ giving her brother a hug, "I'm sorry."

"I'll forgive you latter," said Edward sulkily. Just then the door opened. The two kids rammed the medical equipment back in the draw, before turning to face the new arrive with innocent smiles.

Blossom was tired by now, but very worried. Seeing MJ did nothing to pacify this feeling. She looked silently at her daughter. The handcuffs were broken, her clothes were covered in blood, and her teeth were stained in it. It had happened…

MJ and Edward watched worriedly as all the colour seemed to drain from their mother's face. Eventually she spoke.

"MJ, get me some scissors and come here," she said as calmly as she could manage, which meant that Blossom's voice was trembling like a broken washing machine.

* * *

Boomer lifted his head off the desk, and looked at Sonia.

"You could have spared me the worst of the details," he moaned. Sonia shrugged.

"It's just good practice," she explained calmly. "It could be the key to the case."

"So your saying somewhere in all that blood and gore is the vital clue," said Boomer irritably. Sonia nodded slowly."

"Yes… but I think I know who it is anyway," she said slowly and nervously.

"Let me guess, it begins in an M and ends in a J," Boomer sighed. Sonia looked surprised.

"You got it?"

"Yes, I worked it out ages ago; I was just in deep denial."

"Okay," said Sonia, "I'm sorry, I thought…"

"You thought I was too stupid."

"No, I thought that you would have said if you'd worked it out. Cause you're so keen for this bonus thing."

Boomer sighed, and nodded. "Okay, what do we do now?"

"The police want to arrest MJ," Sonia said, "but I've convinced them to wait for the results of the DNA tests."

"Right," said Boomer, "that means I need a sample of MJ's DNA from Blossom. Now how do I get that…?"

"You could just ask," suggested Sonia.

"No," said Boomer, "I'm sure she'd refuse. And then hurt me."

"Want to bet?" said Blossom from just behind him. Boomer nearly jumped through the ceiling.

"Hi Blossom," he said stupidly cheerfully, "what can I do for you this bright sunny day, hehe?"

"For a start," said Blossom bluntly, "it's raining, and secondly, you're going to need this." She handed him a sealed, clear plastic bag. Boomer took it and had a look. It appeared empty… but wait, there a strand of something inside. "It's some of MJ's hair," Blossom explained. "I thought you might need it."

Boomer looked at it and blinked. "Blossom, I…"

"Don't leave your files on the desk next time," she said, turning away. "And make it quick. I just want to know if it was my daughter."

Boomer and Sonia watched as she walked away. "You left the files on your desk?" said Sonia condescendingly. Boomer blew at his fringe.

"You talk this sample down to the lab," he said, handing it to her. "I need some air."

* * *

Blossom was right. It was raining outside. So Boomer stood in the door way watching the rain clatter off the ground outside. It was a horrible day, in more way then one. Now Sonia knew, he was trapped. If the DNA test came back positive, then he would have to tell the police that it was MJ, and the poor kid would get sent down for murder. Even if it didn't, they'd probably do it anyway. All the evidence pointed towards her, and it made perfect sense.

Except it didn't. Boomer knew that MJ had once been insane, and probably willing to kill, but that had been obvious. Surely if she'd gone insane again, Blossom would have noticed, and acted. Boomer could see MJ as a thief, but not a murder. Not through her own free will, anyway.

He breathed deeply and sighed. It was all wrong. How could he send his own nice to prison? As someone who'd grown up in the world of crime, he knew the value of family loyalty. This defiantly ranked under the category of betrayal.

"Hello Boomer, have you seen Butch?" said a voice. Boomer jumped (yet again. He was a very jumpy person.)

"No I haven't," he said to Buttercup. "Why, you had a fight or something?"

"No," lied Buttercup, "I just wanted to talk to him about something." The Green puff was thinking about things her self. She now knew who had been behind this recent crime spree, and how it was done. Should she tell Boomer? Her resistance to it was waning.

"So how's the investigation going?" she asked, hoping that Boomer would declare that he'd solved it so she wouldn't have to come forward.

"Well I've nearly done got it," said Boomer, not sounding as enthusiastic as he should, "but it's a now a murder enquiry, so it's got a bit, err, messy."

"Murder?" Buttercup asked distantly. Boomer nodded, as the she went slightly pale. "I need to tell you something," she said. "Inside."

Boomer blinked. "Okay," he replied. He needed to go inside anyway; the splash back off the concrete was beginning to soak through his trousers.

It must be noted at this point, that Buttercup is not an idiot. Just because she prefers to act before she thinks, doesn't mean that she can't think. Therefore, she was bright enough to figure out that although accessory to theft would probably mean about two to three years in prison, accessory to _murder_ could require life imprisonment, especially as the "murderer" was a seven year old child. So for sure Buttercup was angry with Butch now, but not life imprisonment angry…

Hence, once they were out of sight of anyone else, she immediately grabbed Boomer by the throat and effortlessly lifted him into the wall, chocking him slightly as she held him against it.

"Listen to me Boomer," she hissed through gritted teeth, "if any member of our family gets charged in connection with this case, I swear I will kill you!"

Boomer was fully aware that he wasn't as strong as Buttercup, so there was no point in trying to escape. Besides, he was still in a state of shock. "But, I… The police…"

"I don't give a fuck," said Buttercup aggressively, closing the gap between their two faces so that she was shouting in his eyes, "lie to them, it's what you Ruffs are so good at!" With that, probably to show she wasn't joking, she hurled Boomer way into the opposite wall, (badly damaging both the target and the projectile,) before storming off.

Boomer sat against the wall for a moment, waiting for his vision to stop being blurry. What did Buttercup have to do with his? How did she know? Was she just protecting Blossom and MJ, or was she more deeply involved then that? And why couldn't this case have been simple! These questions were interrupted when he spotted a pair of red and white shoes in his eye line.

"Just be thankful that she's on our side," said Sonic in that calm, but dangerous voice of his, "but the question is, are you?"

"Actually, I have some questions for you," said Boomer, trying to regain his composure. "About footprints."

"Listen to me you blue eyed Nancy Boy," Sonic lashed, "I wouldn't have put you in charge of this case if I thought you were going to solve it!"

"What?"

"Shut up and listen! If you drag in MJ, then Blossom's creditability will be finally destroyed, and mine won't be far behind. So to avoid a press scandal, the government will appoint some human idiot as the leader, and then what happens? The organisation collapses in a week!"

"That's rubbish," said Boomer, "The SSR is more stable then that, and everyone is willing to work through problems for truth and justice and…"

"Says the expect whose been here for one year," Sonic said, as if talking to a two year-old. "Look around you, everyone in this organisation hates everyone else. They all believe in truth and justice maybe, but anyone so bigoted and pompous to put themselves up as a defender of "truth" is not going to agree with anyone else's interpretation of "truth", and will insist that there version is right."

"Like you?"

"Exactly," said Sonic, ignoring the fact it was intended as an insult, "hence, everyone thinks very one else is wrong! So the only thing with holds this organisation together is the desire to prove they're better then everyone else, married with a weekly pay check and a healthy respect/hatred for their boss. How long do you think that will last if they start being ordered about by some nasal thin bureaucrat that insists on doing teambuilding exercises? And once the SSR has collapsed, where will mutants be put to get them out of the way of society until they are needed?"

"That's just wrong!"

"But it's life! I you care about your species, you will not get MJ charged. She isn't, I'll give you the sodding bonus, but if she is," Sonic smiled bitterly, "you better hope that Butter's finds you first…"

* * *

Boomer wondered back into the offices, almost a broken man. WHAT THE HELL WAS HE…?

"Boomer, come quick!" said Sonia, how'd sprinted up stairs.

"What?"

"I've got the DNA tests back…"

* * *

Okay, please review. Thanks. I'll try to update quicker next time. 


	9. The Truth

Okay this is the give away chapter, so let's see if you guessed right. If you did, feel free to gloat.

**

* * *

9. The Truth**

The DNA tests had been done by Gohan, mainly because the Professor had not been deemed impartial enough. And he was fully aware that he'd already confused Boomer.

"So the DNA is identical… but different?" Boomer asked.

"Sort of," replied Gohan. "You see MJ, being the worlds only Spiderpuff has extremely… distinctive DNA. The sample you took from the crime is defiantly Spiderpuff, and is very similar to MJ's anyway. But…"

"But what?" Boomer was desperate to grab on to any sort of lifeline available to him.

"The Chaos energy pattern is different. I can't out my figure on it, but when we did an energy analysis, the samples didn't match. I think that might explain the different colour for the hair anyway."

Boomer scratched his head. "Is there any explanation for this?"

"Not an obvious one," replied Gohan. "We really don't know much about Chaos energy yet, and the research we're doing is slow progress. If I had a couple more weeks…"

"You've got two minutes," said Sonia from the doorway, "the police are here and they want to get going before MJ attacks again."

"Can't you stall them for a day or too?" asked Boomer. Sonia raised an eyebrow. Boomer sighed. "Okay Gohan, what's the official verdict?"

* * *

"Inconclusive?" spluttered the officer. Boomer nodded.

"That's the result," he said calmly. "I'm afraid if you want a definitive answer you're going to have to wait for a more detailed study to be completed."

"I'm sorry," said the police officer in a tone of voice that suggested that he was anything but, "but the Major is on my back about this, and I have to get that creature off the streets, positive test or no positive test."

"Creature!" spluttered Boomer, before composing himself. "You'll look like a right prick if you arrest and charge a six year old child, only for her to turn out to be innocent!"

"And I'll look even more of a prick if I don't charge her and someone else dies!" the officer bellowed. "I'm going to send a squad now to arrest MJ and I'm going to do it now. She will be charged with murder Mr. Jojo, and I'll take the risk of looking stupid thank you, if it protects innocent people, unless you have a good reason for me not too?"

Boomer desperately wanted to protest (considering Buttercup's and Sonic's threats,) but couldn't think of a "good reason," other than that he was going to have the stuffing kicked from him if she was. However Sonia stepped forward.

"How about you just arrest her for questioning," she suggested. "Then you could keep the public safe by keeping MJ locked up, yet you wouldn't have to reveal her identity to the press, and if she turns out not to be guilt, there would be no embarrassment from having incorrectly charged a child."

This suggestion rather caught the police officer off charge. "Well, I suppose that's true," he flustered, "but she'll have to be held at in prison. Good day!" and with that he stormed off.

"Thanks Sonia," said Boomer, "but now what do we do?"

Sonia shrugged dejectedly. "I suppose we just look for something in the evidence that we haven't spotted yet."

* * *

Hours passed, hours in which Boomer stared blankly at documents and into space. He tried not to allow him self to be distracted by Sonic and Buttercups death stares, or by the pale figure of Blossom, who had eventually been given leave to go home. Boomer would have been racked with guilt, if he hadn't been so busy trying to find a way out.

Eventually, he smashed his head against the table. "WHY CAN'T I DO THIS?" he shouted at no one, "I HAVE TO BE MISSING SOMETHING!"

"Or someone," said Bubbles. For the umpteenth time, Boomer jumped.

"Bubbles, you're back! How was Argentina?"

"Easy," she smiled and gave him a hug, which to Boomer felt warmer then ever. She was still giving off a healthy blue glow. "Are we going on holiday?"

"Err… sure," he replied, "as soon as I've finished this case. And assuming Buttercup and Sonic don't kill me."

"Really," Bubbles sounded confused. Sort of. She sounded more like someone who was pretending to be confused, but who actually knew everything. "You better tell me about it, maybe I can help."

So Boomer did tell her, everything he knew about the case. "You see the problem is that there is something missing from this case that will explain everything, but I just can't find it." Bubbles nodded, and thought for a moment.

"Shall we go interview MJ then," she said smugly, flicking a small blue energy ball into the air. "I'm confident that I can get that bit of information out of her."

* * *

MJ was sitting in the interview room with her Dad – since she was so young she the police had to allow a responsible adult to accompany her. Boomer was thus fairly nervous when he entered, having no idea what Eddy's reaction would be. Well, little idea.

"You proud of yourself?" asked Eddy as he walked in. Boomer shuddered.

"I'm only doing my job," he said meekly.

"At the expense of your family? I never knew you were a career man!"

"We're only here to help Eddy," said Bubbles, "please let us." Bubbles' voice flowed almost hypnotically through the air, and Boomer didn't know if it was just him that felt its power, but it shut Eddy up.

"Right," he said. "MJ, what have the police talked to you about?"

"Erm, not much," said MJ, "they just asked me about my dreams."

"Dreams?"

"Yes, I keep on dreaming that I'm a kid called SP, who is a bit like me, but with black hair and purple eyes, and she's not as strong as I am. And in the dreams I do robberies and stuff, and, and… I don't know," she finished.

Bubbles nodded. "I think we need to see these "dreams," don't you?"

Boomer was fairly sure that Bubbles was different at the moment. Different to how she'd been when they'd married. She was… more confident, and will to flash her powers around with such confidence now that she seemed to have developed new abilities. But even he was sceptical about this.

"And how are we going to do that?" asked Eddy, voicing Boomer's thoughts.

"I… I could try and fall to sleep and then tell you what I see," said MJ, "right?"

"Good enough," said Bubbles. She then reached forward across the table and put her hand on MJ's head. Suddenly, it glowed bright blue, and MJ's eyes rolled into the top of her head, and she went limp. Bubbles gently lowered MJ's head onto her hands, and she curled up in to a traditional sleeping position. Eddy and Boomer gaped.

"You put her to sleep?" gasped Boomer.

"Is she alright?" asked Eddy with typical parental concern.

"She's fine," said Bubbles, "now watch."

A strange gas started to rise out of MJ's ear. No, it was too fluffy for a gas. It formed a cloud above her head, and suddenly, an image appeared in it. As MJ snoozed below, the two blue puffs and Eddy watched…

"…_So you get that?" asked Mojo. SP scratched her head briefly, but interpreting Mojo's speeches was a skill that she'd had to learn._

"_I think so," she replied, as she ran her fingers through her black hair. "I attack the arms shop on 19th street and take all the guns, and then come back here… and I try not to have another accident."_

"_Good, good!" said Mojo delightedly, "and then your experimental run will be over, and I will be able to use the data to perfect more clones, stronger clones that aren't defective, and then…"_

"_My brothers and sisters," said SP excitedly, cutting Mojo off in his stride. "What are we going to call them?" she asked as Mojo tried to work out what had just been said._

"_**I will call them,**" said Mojo angrily, "by a logical naming system, just like you were. And don't interrupt me while I'm detailing my evil plan for world domination and for the destruction of all my enemies so that I can achieve my goal, which is world domination for me, Mojo Jojo, as it's hard enough, that is to say sufficiently difficult to construct theses long sentences without it!"_

"_Oh yeah, logical system," said SP happily, not really understanding what the words meant. "As in the original was MJ, the five failures were NK, OL, PM, QN, and RO, and then I'm SP."_

"_The sixth failure," said Mojo to himself, but it just seemed to bounce off SP._

"_So my first sister or brother will be TQ. That's not a very good name."_

"_FINE, NAME THEM YOURSELF!" Mojo said grumpily, as he walked away. "It will do you no good." As he left, SP did a little happy jig. She was going to be a good older sister. Now, names…"_

Bubbles ended the vision. As MJ stirred, and Eddy thoughtfully cleaned out his ear, for Boomer everything suddenly made sense.

"Of course," he said, "it's so obvious!"

"Is it?" asked Eddy.

"Yes, it is! Mojo must have cloned MJ, and used it to commit the crimes. Remember when she went missing and Mojo found her, no wonder he helped us beat Him, he must have been trying to lure us into a false sense of security so that he could have plenty of time to put his cloning plan into operation. And it's brilliant," continued enthusiastically, "as MJ is probably stronger then us normal puffs anyway – when she's crazy that is – so if he could find a way to improve the clone then he'd easily be able to destroy us."

"You sound very happy about that," said Eddy, but he was ignored.

"But why has she got Black hair, and purple eyes," asked Bubbles, "If she's a clone she should be identical."

"Mojo mentioned that SP was defective," Boomer declared, "so that must be the reason," he finished. "But the thing I want to know is how come MJ can see here thought's when she sleeps?"

"Probably a Chaos Energy thing," suggested Bubbles.

"Is that how the author's going to explain very plot hole in these stores," asked Eddy.

"Pretty much."

"Okay," said Bubbles, so we need to capture this "SP," and then attack Mojo and get rid of all these new clones before he creates them. So we need to act fast."

"Can I help?" asked MJ, with an air of excitement. "I mean, she is my evil clone, maybe this could be my first superhero thing? Please?"

"I don't think so," said Eddy, "you're coming straight home with me, and your staying there safely till this is over."

"Actually," said Bubbles, "I think MJ should spend the night here."

"WHAT!"

"Well, if she's free and we fail to capture this SP thing, then we have no proof that MJ's innocent. But if she's locked up, then she will be innocent, whether we get her or not."

"That's rubbish," protested Eddy, but Boomer didn't think he was going to have any luck with the police on this. MJ would spend the night inside.

* * *

Boomer's assumption for the reason of SP and MJ's hair and eye colour difference was a bold one. It was also wrong. The defectiveness of SP was explained by her inferior strength to MJ. The hair and eye colour had a different reason.

Two people in the obscure country of Britain were aware of the real reason, and only one of them was the author. The other was a bartender in a London Pub. He was actually a student, who was working there for a summer job. However, he'd entered into conversation with a rather bizarre client, and was now desperately hoping that his boss would come down and tell him to move on to something else.

"How interesting," he said for the umpteenth time. Butch – who'd given up his search for a motel ages ago in return for a country where you could drink all day (thanks to some new laws to try and stop binge drinking) nodded unsteadily."

"So there's this little kid," he rasped, waving his glass around wildly, "running around with my energy, and my wife's energy, and she's killing people – hiccup – and I get thrown out! What have I done? I didn't kill anyone, no one at all. But I get thrown out! ME! Not the poor little murder kid." He sipped his pint again.

"You must be very proud parents," said the bartender, and he immediately mentally slapped himself for showing an interest; that was only liable to encourage the freak. To his surprise how ever, Butch immediately stopped, and put the glass down."

"Pardon," he said, surprisingly soberly. The bartender hesitated.

"Well, I mean, if the kid's "energy" is half from your wife and half from you, that would make you its energy parents, right?"

"Chaos energy, that's what we are…" said Butch airily, (completely freaking out the bartender.) "I CAN GIVE HER WHAT SHE WANTS!" he suddenly declared, and with the bar stool still spinning behind him Butch shot off, leaving a trademark green energy trial, a very disturbed bartender, and an unpaid tab.

* * *

Okay, thanks for reading. I hope you're all enjoying it. If not please tell me why, as any useful comments will help me with the next story. This ones nearly done – only two more chapters to go – and I hope to be finished by the end of the week. Okay, please review, thanks. 


	10. Decisive Action

**10. Decisive Action**

Eddy arrived home tired and emotionally confused. On one hand, he should have been happy, because his daughter was not a criminal or a murderer. On the other hand, she was still incarcerated in one of the countries most notorious "Special Danger" (i.e. Mutant) prisons, although the police had promised to leave her in a safe, isolated cell right at the top of the children's wing. Still, have to watch his daughter be led away was hard, and he suspected MJ hadn't enjoyed it much either.

And the next experience was not going to be much of an improvement. Seeing how Blossom would respond to him returning home sans their second born child. But when he opened the door, there was no sigh of her.

"Hello?" he called, "Blossom? I'm home?"

"She's not in," said Edward, who'd just come down stairs.

"Where is she then?"

"She gave me a hug and said that everything would be okay, and then she went for a walk. That was about an hour ago." He scratched his head nervously. "Will everything be okay Dad?" he asked.

Quietly, inside, Eddy seethed. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. MJ was innocent, so why was his family still suffering for someone else's crimes? In his head he could almost picture the happy scene; Blossom smothering a wriggling but smiling MJ with hugs and kisses, Edward bouncing around while trying to pretend that he didn't really care, and of course, his triumphant explanation of how he'd single handily worked out that it wasn't MJ… This was Eddy's vision so he could temporarily omit Boomer's role.

However, that wasn't the case because the dammed authorities had wanted to keep MJ out of the way just in case. And this made him mad. Mad enough, to something he hadn't done in a while.

"Come on son," he said reassuringly, "I've just come up with a plan so crazy that it might just work…

* * *

Buttercup was wrestling with her conscious. What could she do? Well that was obvious; she could tell everyone, get MJ released from prison and Butch put in instead, or she could not tell anyone, keep Butch on the outside and MJ on the inside. The real question was, what should she do? Could she really justify letting MJ take the rap for a crime just because proving that she was innocent would involve getting Butch locked up. She couldn't, could she?

Then, a thought occurred to her. If MJ had been arrested, then she wouldn't be able to commit a crime. Therefore, when… what was that's kids name… SP continued her spree, the police would obviously realise that it couldn't have been MJ, and release her. Butch would be in the clear, and no one would be hurt. The experience might even be good for the kid, and it might just guilt Butch into being more careful in future.

Feeling vindicated, Buttercup was about to move on, when she was suddenly aware of a pair of eyes burning into the back of her head. She swung around rapidly, and then relaxed.

"Hi Bubbles," she said. "How was Argentina?"

Bubbles did not seem too talkative; she seemed to be staring through Buttercup, as if assessing something inside her. "Is there anything you want to tell me?" she asked. Buttercup was astounded by this.

"Pardon? No, why?" she replied, vaguely aware that she was responding far too aggressively. Bubbles chucked (slightly maliciously perhaps) and then replied.

"Because we've found out about the clone."

* * *

Sonic drummed his fingers on the desk thoughtfully. Boomer waited with Sonia patiently for his response. He'd already inform her of the new development, and she had suggested that they tell Sonic. Sonia seemed convinced that he'd be delighted. Boomer was less so, as he was fairly certain Sonic was never delighted with anyone's work but his own.

"That's good work," the blue hedgehog eventually said in his usual blunt tone. Boomer nearly choked.

"Really?"

"Yes," Sonic continued in a more relaxed tone, "its brilliant. The public love the evil clone thing, and so will the papers! I want you two and Bubbles to go and bring her in tonight, and then we can draw a line under this whole thing, and bonuses can be distributed." He laughed suddenly. "And to think that I was going to break your neck Boomer," he said as if the whole thing had been a joke. Mentally Boomer snorted at this, and promised that one day he'd smash Sonic's huge nose on his desk. But for now it was so rare to see him in a good mood that Boomer saw no reason to ruin it just yet. Well, not when money was involved.

"Yes," he chuckled nervously.

"Right," said Sonic commandingly, "we need to wrap this up tonight, I don't want MJ in jail for a moment longer then necessary. It's having a rather detrimental affect on Blossom."

"I think the best thing to do is to take a subtly approach," suggested Sonia. "Setting up a quiet ring around the site, and waiting for this clone to appear. Then we observe her for a while, and once we've established her as a criminal…"

"We grab her from behind!" said Boomer, smacking his fist into his hand for affect. Sonic nodded.

"It's a good plan, but don't forget the spider-sense. It will warn her that you're coming, so you'll need to be quick."

"If we have lots of people," Sonia said, "that won't be a problem. Or maybe you'd be fast enough Dad?" she suggested.

"What do you mean maybe?" Sonic replied with a tone of irritation that was too strong to be entirely put on. "I'll show how fast I am if you want missy!" He clicked his fingers in a satisfied manor.

There was a knock on the door, and Bubbles entered with a rather sheepish Buttercup trailing in her wake. "Sorry to interrupt you Sonic, but Buttercup has something important to tell you," she said, nudging her sister forward. Buttercup sighed and looked at her feet. Then she remembered who see was, and raised her head to hit the danger straight on.

"Butch used some of my and his energy to help Mojo create the clone," she said. Sonic's expression froze, and he visibly tensed up. Boomer braced himself for the impending explosion.

"What."

"He told me last night," said Buttercup firmly.

"And why didn't you tell us earlier?" Sonic asked tightly.

"I was worried that Butch would go to jail for his part in the affair." Buttercup was speaking with such confidence, that it was difficult for Sonic to know how to respond, since she was displaying no obvious weakness for him to attack. Eventually, he decided not to bollock her, just yet.

"What ever gave you that idea?" he said. "Think about it Buttercup, I managed to keep the fact that Blossom had killed Superman quite for fifteen years, despite the fact that none of the evidence supported the ridicules story that we put up in place. If we managed that, I'm sure we can cover up this little thing."

"Really?"

"Yes, you know, deal with it under internal procedure." Buttercup relaxed, relief flowing over her. Sonic took this as his cue to strike. "Which is a good job for you, since if it was to come out, I could have you sent down too for perjury."

* * *

MJ sat in her cell. It wasn't too bad, she supposed. For a short period of time anyway. The cell was very small, about ten by ten square feet. There was a bed and a toilet, and a small bared window set high in the wall. MJ had flown up and had a look through it, and it confirmed what she'd thought; that she was right at the top of the prison, in solitary confinement, within the children's wing of the prison.

MJ was glad of this, since that this was the special mutant prison, for those criminals who had superpowers that made them unsuitable for containment within a normal prison. She was fairly sure that a significant number of those incarcerated here would be delighted for the opportunity to attack Blossom's daughter as an act of revenge.

Still, there wasn't much to do. The officers had supplied MJ with a tennis ball and a jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle was done now, but the ball had provided some entertainment, as she catapulted it and her self around the small space, but that had of course worn thin eventually. So now she was sat on the bed, hoping that night would come and that the dammed clone would be locked up here instead of her.

There was a knock on the window. MJ jumped, that wasn't right, she was at least six stories up. Cautiously, she climbed up the wall and peered out through the bars. Was she saw surprised her.

"Edward?"

"Hi sis," said Edward from the other side of the window, "how's prison?"

"It's alright," said MJ, before clicking. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like; I'm here to get you out!"

"How?"

"Oh come on MJ, use your head. You're strong enough to brake down that door right?"

"I guess so."

"Great. Then all you need is a disguise," Edward declared, and he chucked MJ the same pile of clothes that he'd given her back in chapter one. "Just follow your instincts and it should be easy. Oh yes, and make sure you break as many of the other lunatics in here out on your way as a distraction. Me and Dad will be waiting in the car outside."

MJ nodded, she wasn't in the habit of ignoring her brother's advice. "Wait, one last thing, how have you got to the window?" she asked. "Are you flying?"

"No I'm on the worlds longest step ladder," said Edward sarcastically. "Good luck!" and with that he was gone.

MJ looked at the clothes. Edward claimed that he was sown them himself, and if he had he would defiantly have a future in the textiles industry if his motor racing didn't work out. MJ changed quickly, and then had a long look at herself.

(Let's cut to the chase here, the costume is cross between Spiderman's and Blossom's. I have a very pacific image in my head of what it looks like, but I'd like to give you all the opportunity to imagine it for yourselves, this being on of the major advantages of writing over television. The only things that I will state are a) the mask is designed to leave the eyes and mouth uncovered, to allow biting, spitting and eye blast attacks, and b) she's only six, so no pornography please. If you're interested in my exact interpretation, please send me a review, and I'll see what I can do.)

MJ felt it looked rather good. For the first time in her life, she really felt like a superhero. A memory returned to her; hadn't Him promised that she'd be one of the strongest people on the planet? That had defiantly been true when she'd been insane, and now MJ would have a chance to prove it while sane. Well, mostly sane.

She paused for a moment, focusing herself on the task a head, letting her spider sense track any nearby dangers. Then, she pulled the mask over her head, hissed slightly, and threw herself at the cell door.

It bulked easily, and within moments she was whizzing past surprised guards (to whom she appeared only as a pink streak,) while her webbing gripped and yanked the locks off passing cells. This released process released a number of much bigger and more dangerous mutants, who were suddenly the guard's main concern. So much so, that few of them had much time to consider a small girl ricocheting off the walls and eventually out the front to freedom.

MJ had trusted completely to instinct, as she'd been told, so as she burst threw the outer fence, the non-spider half of her was surprised to find itself falling through the sunroof of her dad's car.

"Right, GO!" shouted Edward, as MJ reoriented her self. Eddy nodded, and slow pulled away from the kerb, before driving calmly away.

"This way, no one will suspect us," he said calmly, as he mussed MJ's hair. "So, how was it?"

"It – was – the – most incredible thing ever!" MJ said delightedly, as she caught her breath. She was suffering from the most amazing adrenalin rush.

"Good," said Eddy, "now put on your seat belt."

"Okay, tanks Edward that worked brilliantly."

"No problem," said Edward smugly, but their father was scratching his head.

"There's still one thing that's bothering me," he said. "If you can fly Edward, why did we need to make the worlds longest step ladder?"

* * *

Okay, thanks for reading. I would be **Really Really Grateful **if any of you could **Review, **even if you have nothing constructive to say. It would just let me feel that all this effort is worth while. Also, if you have criticisms, please feel free to voice them. Thanks. 


	11. Slaughter on the Bubble

**11. Slaughter on the Bubble**

The journey back from the prison to Townsville was a long one. It was now dark and late, and the highway was almost empty. Eddy yawned as he stared blindly at the long straight road in front of him. How he wished for a corner, just to give him something to do. Presently, the headlights illuminated a sign informing him he was only ten miles from home. Great, he thought, nearly time for bed. Normally if he had an escaped prisoner in the car, Eddy wouldn't head for home, but due to the large number of prisoners that MJ had released, it would probably be well into the morning before the police realised that she was missing, and by then they'd have caught the clone.

Eddy stretched. "You all right kids?" he asked. No response. A quick glance in the rear view mirror informed him that Edward was asleep in the back. He looked down beside him, and saw that MJ was asleep too. It was quite adorably really; she was filching and gnawing on the seat upholstery. Eddy smiled.

He looked back to the front again, and then stood hard on the brakes. It was only a bird on the road, but still it woke him up a bit. I also work up the kids. "Evening kids," said Eddy cheerfully, "we're nearly home."

Edward coughed. "Were you looking where you were going!" he said in a standard backseat driving tone. MJ however looked thoughtful.

"Are we near 19th street?" she asked.

"Not too far," said Eddy, "Why?"

"Oh nothing," said MJ, "I just had another dream."

* * *

Around the arms shop on 19th street, a collection of superheroes were gathered. Boomer looked at his watch.

"She should be here soon," he assured Sonic. The Hedgehog nodded silently.

"Right, let's get into our positions," he ordered. He, Buttercup, Bubbles and Sonia fanned out, leaving Boomer alone. The Blue Ruff stretched his limbs, and focused. He needed to be ready, he wanted to be ready. Having worked so hard on this case, he was determined to make the catch himself.

Suddenly, he spotted something moving on the roof. It was small, sort of child sized, and skulking. Boomer moved very slowly forward. Remembering the spider sense, he tried to make himself as unthreatening as possible. It seemed to be working; the figure was not reacting as if it thought it was being watched. Boomer hovered closer, when suddenly, it swung round. It was staring straight at him. For the first time, Boomer saw those purple eyes, shinning out from the shade of the figure. To his surprise, they looked scared. Boomer shifted forward slightly, smiling to try and reduce his threat level.

It didn't work. The figure swung round, and jumped away. In the move Boomer saw her properly for the first time; black hair and in a green and grey costume, but with the shape and features of MJ, she was defiantly a clone, or "twin."

She was also very fast. Fast enough to avoid Buttercup anyway, and Sonia. Boomer watched as Sonic also missed, while Bubbles got her legs wrapped up in some webbing. As she easily dug her way out of it, Boomer decided it was time for him to get involved. He charged at SP's back, but she swung round and desperately thrashed a leg out in Boomer's direction. It hit him in the head. Boomer prepared to catch himself, and then stopped. It hadn't hurt at all. Unable to stop him self, Boomer gave a little super villain style laugh of contempt, which was quickly halted by a sharp kick in the groin. As Boomer fell forward to the ground in shock and pain, SP looked to make a brake for it, and no one appeared to be in a position to stop her. He made a desperate grasp for her, but she jumped out of reach and disappeared.

Boomer cursed loudly, partly due to the pain, but main due to SP's escape. But his frustration was short lived, for moments later, SP crashed back down on to the roof, with someone else. At first Boomer thought it was Blossom, and then he thought it was Spider-man...

SP kicked MJ back off again, but MJ had already fired a line of webbing that wrapped around her leg. Once she'd landed, it was just a matter of effortlessly pulling SP back.

SP scrabbled at the roof, before wailing out, "Let me go you bully!" her voice sounding disconcertingly like MJ's. MJ her self showed little sympathy.

"Not a chance!" she leered, "I'm stronger and faster then you and I'm not going back to jail!" SP made another desperate thrust for freedom, but Buttercup and Sonia dived forward and restrained her. She still struggled for a moment, but she was defiantly defective; MJ would have easily broken their grip if she'd been determined enough, but SP attempts were so pathetic, that Buttercup actually released her grip slightly, for fear of hurting her.

"It's hard to believe that you're a murderer," she said, apparently ignoring her captive's thrashing and spitting.

"Well she is," said Sonia firmly.

"Good timing MJ," said Boomer happily, "it does your costume credit. I thought we'd lost her."

"Thanks," said MJ happily, "I thought I did pretty well for a first time."

"Yes," said Sonic tetchily, "but perhaps you might like to explain what you're doing here?"

* * *

Blossom was sat on a rock in the middle of a forest. She sighed bitterly. What exactly had she done wrong as a parent to make MJ a killer? It was a question she'd been contemplating for the last few hours, and one that seemingly had no obvious answer. Or no answer that Blossom thought was acceptable.

Her deep thoughts were interrupted by her mobile ringing. She could tell from the ring tone that it was Sonic (it was playing the funeral march) and that if she'd didn't pick up she'd pay the price latter. For all she knew he might have some news on MJ.

He did. "A clone?" Blossom gasped.

"Yes, that's the third time you've asked me that," Sonic replied angrily, "but unfortunately, your idiot husband deemed it necessary to break MJ out of jail as a result, and you wonderful son thought that the best way to do this involved releasing just about every mutant in the prison at the same time!"

"Ah," said Blossom, who surprised herself slightly by not showing the same amount of anger at the situation as Sonic; in fact she was touched by Eddy's thought, if not so much Edward's method. "So what are we going to do?"

"There's a squad already on the scene, but I want you to go and take charge of it. While that's happening, Sonia is going to sneak MJ back into her cell. We'll handle things with SP. Okay."

"Ye…"

"Good." The phone went dead; Sonic didn't believe in wasting time. Blossom stood up, a huge wait lifted from her shoulders. One point did occur to her though.

"I hope they beat the crap out of Mojo for this," she said to herself, before flying off.

* * *

Back at the arms shop, MJ and Sonia had departed, and Sonic was attempting to chew out Eddy and Edward (they were trying to ignore him,) while Boomer was handcuffing SP, who'd found her tongue again.

"You wait until my brothers and sisters get you," she sniffed, "you bully!"

"Bullies are we," said Boomer angrily, "try telling that to the wife of the person you killed." SP looked shocked.

"But he attacked me… I h…had to…oo" She seemed almost on the verge of tears. Boomer didn't really know what to make of it.

"Why did you have to?" he asked instead.

"I… data evaluation," SP stuttered. "I mean… Mojo said we all have to destroy our enemies, and it's important."

"We?" asked Sonic, "What's this we?"

"Oh, Mojo's cloning more," explained Bubbles calmly, "less defective ones." Sonic gritted his teeth.

"We'll need to stop that," he said. SP looked up.

"Stop, what do you mean stop?" she asked, slightly panicky.

"No no," said Buttercup quickly, "Sonic just wants us to take a look, doesn't he."

"Yes, of course" lied the hedgehog. Why don't you and Bubbles go have "a word" with Mojo, and Boomer and I will stay here till the police arrive."

Bubbles and Buttercup nodded and flew off, but SP was confused again.

"What do the police want?" she asked. Her question was ignored.

"Why don't we wait in the car," suggested Eddy, "it'll be warmer in there." He was trying to ignore the similarities between SP and MJ.

"Yeah, come on sis," said Edward, who wasn't. "I want to know a bit more about you."

* * *

The two Puffs flew through the cold night air towards Mojo's base. Bubbles turned to Buttercup. "Look forward for the chance to atone for Butch's error?" she asked.

Buttercup snorted. "Since when were you so interested in my life?" she asked bitterly.

"Since when did you snap at my every question?" asked Bubbles in response. "I'm showing no more interest then normal."

"Yes, but normally you don't seem to know things before I say them," Buttercup replied grumpily, before pulling slightly further ahead. Flying backwards, Bubbles cruised back along side.

"It's just that I can read you like an open book." She looked at her finger nails. "I'm sure you and Butch can patch it up."

"See, it's like that!" said Buttercup angrily, "I haven't even mentioned Butch to you, and you already know. It's really annoying!" (And scary, she thought to herself.)

"Oh, sorry if I'm scaring you," Bubbles replied, "but I'm sure someone who'd never even met you could tell that you were having relationship trouble right now." She stretched. "Anyway, this bores me. Let's just get to Mojo's, okay." With that she shot off ahead, leaving Buttercup for dead. The green puff gaped.

"I don't care what you say," she said to herself, "but there is something wrong with you."

* * *

Sonic had chosen to stay outside the car. In his words, it meant that he avoided the inane chatter inside. He was still listening in – he wanted to keep a tab on what was being said – but by being outside the car, he didn't have to contribute himself.

Inside, Edward was getting quite irate. "Come on SP," he desperately probed, "you must have some thing that you like!"

SP blinked, "I like meat and web swinging and stuff. And I think I used to like horses."

"No, that's my point." Edward sighed. "You _don't _like horses, that's just something from MJ's memories in your head. Like your ability to read and write. There has to be something that _you _like." SP blinked.

"Ummm…" she shrugged. "I'll think of something." Edward thumped his head on the seat in frustration.

"What are you trying to prove son?" asked Eddy.

"I want to prove she's an independent person."

"But she's not," Eddy replied. "She's a copy of someone created by an evil genius to fulfil an evil purpose. That's it."

"That's a bit hard," said Boomer for Edward, who was too gob smacked to speak.

"But it's true," said Eddy, turning round to SP, "Isn't it."

SP thought for a moment. She had a strangely expressive face, Sonic thought. She seemed unable to hide her feelings for what she was thinking was invariably written on her face. He vaguely reflected that MJ sometimes seemed quite withdrawn in comparison, possibly due to the bulling at school. Not that the dammed kid had been withdrawn tonight.

For now SP's face was an expression of pure inquisition. Eventually she spoke. "Yep, he's right. Mojo says that my purpose is to do as I'm told so that he can use the data to improve the new clones." She seemed pretty happy about it.

"See," said Eddy triumphantly.

"That doesn't mean that she can't develop in to a person," said Edward bitterly.

"Yeah, like she'll manage that in prison," muttered Boomer. Edward blinked.

"She won't go to prison will she? She's just a mindless kid!"

"Son, she killed someone," said Eddy gently, (SP's face changed to show agony at this,) "so she'll have to be put somewhere."

"She can stay with us right?" asked Edward. Eddy hesitated, but he was saved by Sonic, who was shouting at someone down his phone. After a brief exchange involving words of four letters, the blue hedgehog turned round to Boomer.

"The dammed prison chief is demanding to speak to me about that break out," he shot Eddy and Edward a dirty look each before continuing, "so you wait here till the police arrive, and then go check that Bubbles and Buttercup have cleaned up properly. Alright?"

"Okey dokey," said Boomer happily. Sonic nodded and shot off.

"What are they cleaning up?" asked Edward.

"The other clones," said Boomer instantly.

"Why," asked SP, "They haven't been born yet."

Maybe it was the fact that MJ's and SP's voices were almost identical, but Eddy spoke before he thought. "I think it's cleaning in the killing germs sense of the word."

SP looked like she was about to be hit by a car. "THERE GOING TO KILL THEM?"

"Err, no that's not what I…"

"THEY WON'T! I WON'T LET THEM!"SP screamed, and with that she leapt from the car (breaking a window), broke free of the handcuffs, and shot off in the direction of Mojo's. Boomer swung round to Eddy.

"Can't you keep your trap shut for TEN SECONDS?"

* * *

Bubbles knocked on Mojo's door, while Buttercup kept an eye out for incoming traps, having decided to take up her issue with Bubbles at a more appropriate time. Nothing bad happened actually, and Mojo opened the door. He looked at Bubbles and Buttercup.

"I should really use the peep hole," he said dejectedly.

"But then we would just have knocked the door down," said Bubbles.

"And we have the kid, so we don't need you to feed it!" Buttercup said. "So it's over."

Mojo nodded. "Okay, come in and get the other clones I suppose." Bubbles and Buttercup entered, and Mojo locked the door behind them.

"Okay Mojo," asked Buttercup, "where's the clones."

"Down here," said Mojo calmly. He pressed a button, and suddenly the floor started to open up. The two puffs flew in to the air and looked down into the rapidly widening gap, as Mojo started laughing manically.

Buttercup couldn't believe her eyes. She'd thought that Mojo was cloning about, say ten more Spider-puff's, but she'd been some way out. It appeared that the entire mountain was filled with clones…

"…every single one stronger and faster then the original," Mojo gloated. "And that mean that there are thousand so them, stronger and fasted and more deadly then you puffs, and all loyal that is completely loyal to me, Mojo Jojo. Soon the world will be completely under my control and you lot will he maimed slaughtered dead and in a great deal of pain!" he looked at his watch. "I was planning to test them on that defect SP, but I think that as they hatch in one minute, getting them to rip you two limb from limb will suffice!"

Buttercup couldn't believe it. Then a thought occurred to her. "You were going to get them to kill SP?"

"Of course, they will need there human instincts removing, and killing their older sister will do that! As well as of course killing you!"

Buttercup hesitated for a second. She knew down below her was an entire army primed for action. An army of ruthless killing machines. But something else forced its way in to her mind, possibly due to SP's childlikeness. They were also kids, about to be born. Like her baby had been…

"Bubbles, I have an idea!" she said to her sister. Bubbles was looking straight down at the clones below. She looked completely calm, but also… distant and… and… well, not quite right.

"So do I," she said coldly, and she opened up her hand so that the palm was facing down towards the interior of the mountain below them. Then, with out even a blink and in a surge of blue energy, she obliterated the entire contence.

* * *

Okay, I thought that would be the last chapter, but what do you know, I'm terrible at estimations. So please review, and I'll see you next time for defiantly the final chapter. 


	12. SP's Guard

**12. SP's Guard**

Outside the prison, things had just about calmed down, Blossom thought. She turned to the assembled superheroes; they all looked exhausted. It had been a hard battle and they'd been severely outnumbered by a lot of mutants that had been in special secure confinement for a number of good reasons. The mission hadn't been entirely successful either, and the faces before her told that story. Sill, she had to try to keep moral up.

"That's good work today people," she said a lot more chirpily then she felt. "If you return to head quarters we'll get some people in to relieve you for the rest of the night."

The heroes dispersed rapidly, some of them visibly lifted by Blossom's encouragement, and equally some having completely ignored her words. There was still a section of the SSR that had no respect for her anymore, and Blossom supposed that it would take something special to regain it. Then again, she probably did deserve it.

"Giving them the rest of the night off then," said Sonic from behind her. Blossom didn't jump, mainly because she was used to Sonic sneaking up on her by now.

"And?" she said, resigned to Sonic's predictable response.

"It's not what I would have done," he said.

"If we have enough spare heroes to give these ones a brake, that's what we'll do," said Blossom calmly. "We're not at war here."

"Humph, not yet any how." Sonic looked at the wreckage from the battle. "How bad was it?"

"Oh not to bad, the situation was pretty much under control when I arrived."

"Define under control."

"I mean that all the villains that were going to escape had, and all those that weren't were being contained. It was pretty easy from then."

"Really?" said Sonic, pointing to the cut on Blossom's cheek.

"Lucky shot," said Blossom confidently. Sonic looked her up and down.

"Some of those villains should play the lottery then," he said. "Who escaped then?" he asked before Blossom could retaliate.

"Only the usual suspects, you know. Magneto, Venom, the Joker, Fuzzy Lumpkins…"

"What? That Fruit bat?"

"He's not a fruit bad Sonic, he's a… anyway, Fuzzy can be pretty fast when he wants to be, and in the heat of the moment, we decided that he wasn't the highest priority."

Sonic grunted. "When MJ gets out I'm going to have a word with her," he said.

* * *

As the remains of the cloning vats and their contense smouldered below, Bubbles managed a little chuckle. "Bet you didn't see that one coming Mojo," she said smugly. It was the truth; Mojo defiantly hadn't. He hadn't expected Bubbles to be so heartless. It was closer to something he would have done.

Still, he wasn't going to admit it. Too much. "CURSE YOU!" he growled with characteristic vigour, "YOU'VE RUINED MY PLANS! I SPENT AGES ON THAT!"

"Okay, that's enough from you," Bubbles said nonchalantly, and she released a thin blue line of energy at Mojo, which quickly wrapped around him like a rope. The even more surprised monkey struggled briefly against this, while Buttercup finally found her tongue.

"What the hell was that!" she shouted. Bubbles gave her a condescending look that Blossom would have been proud of.

"The right decision," she replied. "You can't afford to mess around with that sort of stuff."

"That was murder!" replied Buttercup, with feeling.

"They were a bunch of mad killing machines; it was either us or them."

"You have no proof of that! They could have just been misguided!"

"Gee Buttercup, going soft are we?" said Bubbles, as if it was a joke. Buttercup shot her a terrible look, anger billowing up inside her. Probably the only reason she didn't hit her sister was because the two of them were rudely interrupted, as someone landed nearby. SP surveyed the wreckage with a look of pure horror and dismay.

"Wh…what ha… happ…ened?" she stuttered. Bubbles gave her a look of pure contempt.

"How did you get out?" she asked, but SP wasn't listening she could barely speak.

"I… they… who?" she appealed to them. Bubbles wasn't prepared to answer that. She raised her hand and pointed an energy ball at SP.

"Why don't you just stand there and shut up!" she threatened. Next to her, Buttercup didn't know whether to tell SP to fight or run. Okay, so that's not completely true.

"Bubbles killed them all SP," she said firmly. The spider-puff looked at her, and then at Bubbles.

"You killed them," she said innocently enough. But the innocence lasted about a second. "THEN I'LL KILL YOU!" she wailed, and jumped over Bubbles' incoming blast and swung straight towards the blue puff.

Buttercup was fairly sure that she was in control of the situation. SP would give Bubbles a good run for her money and at least take her down a peg. Then she could step in and stop it, without anyone being seriously hurt. However, she'd badly misjudged this, because with almost effortless easy, Bubbles easily dogged the attack and smacked SP away into a corner of the observatory. SP rolled into a heap with none of the agility that you'd expect from her, and scrambled to her feat just in time to see the size of the blast that Bubbles was powering up.

"If you're going to be like that," Bubbles said bitterly, "I might as well eradicate all evidence of this twisted little experiment!"

"Bubbles are you mad?" Buttercup exclaimed, but any more protests she had were silenced by her sister kicking her in the stomach.

"Don't interfere!" Bubbles ordered (?) as Buttercup tumbled away. She scrapped along the floor and stopped, swinging round to see SP, back up against the wall and spider-sense overloaded, preparing to end her very short life. Her face was a picture of fear. Buttercup couldn't bear to watch, and she instinctively shut her eyes, just waiting for Bubbles to finish this in a huge bang.

The bang took a long time in coming, so Buttercup looked up again. Bubbles hadn't fired and for a very good reason, there was someone in-between her and the intended target.

"Get out the way Butch," she said, but the Green Ruff was unmoved.

"Not a chance," he said firmly. "I helped create this kid, and I'll be dammed if I'm going to watch you destroy it!"

"You could close your eyes like Buttercup has," suggested Bubbles. This was the last cheap shot she got though, because at this point Buttercup grabbed her from behind and smacked her into a near by wall hard.

* * *

Boomer arrived only minutes later, but by then Butch was also involved in the fight. "What the hell is going on!" he demanded.

"Bubbles destroyed all the clones and tried to kill SP!" shouted Buttercup angrily. Butch nodded vigorously in agreement. Boomer surveyed the seen before him, and looked at Bubbles. She was smiling at him, at looked little the worse for ware for the battle. She was really looking at him.

"Seems reasonable to me," he found himself saying.

"WHAT?"

"Yes," said Boomer, who was wondering the same thing himself, "if they were a danger to the public then it's the best decision. Right Bubbles?"

"Of course," she said. Buttercup looked like she was going to explode, but Butch interrupted them.

"Where's Mojo and SP?" he asked.

* * *

Below the rowing puffs, Brick stood alone among the remains of the cloning vats. The seen disgusted him. How could all this have been caused by his sister in law? All this devastation and slaughter? And how could his own brother support it? Sure, Boomer was a criminal, but he'd never been a murderer.

Brick may have been blinded by denial, he may not have been, but he was certain that he knew the true. Bubbles was not capable of this. Something was going on. "And I'm going to find out what," he said determinedly, as the slithering souls of the clones scrambled towards him.

* * *

Mojo sprinted away through the city. That had been too close, but he was free now. Free to plan again, and this time he would succeed. Maybe he could take advantage of the split between Bubbles and Buttercup that had appeared in front of him. What if…

"What's the next plan?" asked a voice. Mojo swung round. SP had followed him.

"What?"

"We'll get'm next time, won't we," said SP confidently. Mojo scowled.

"**I **will get them next time, **you **will get out of my sight!" he bellowed. SP's face fell away.

"Bb...bb...but… I have nowhere to go?"

"Do I look like I care? You're nothing but an experiment, a prototype for a failed project. You are of no use to me at all, other than as feed for those other clones, and since they've gone, you at utterly useless. So GO! NOW!"

Mojo turned his back and strode away, leaving SP alone and inconsolable.

* * *

Butch and Buttercup had reached there front door, and Buttercup was in full flow. "I mean who does Bubbles think she is, ordering me about like that? No one tells me what to do… well Blossom sometimes, but not that whiny little twat!"

"Of course," said Butch, and then he stopped. "Can I come home now?"

Buttercup had privately forgotten she was angry with Butch. But now she had a question for him. "Why did you come back to save SP?" he asked. Butch hesitated.

"Well, I did sort of create her… I feel… responsible in a way."

"Like a father?" Buttercup asked. Butch wasn't going to answer that one directly.

"I want to try and find her," he said. "At least before she gets hurt… or hurts someone."

"You do realise she's a murderer," Buttercup tested. Butch nodded.

"So is Blossom."

"Okay then," she said, and Buttercup opened the door. "I think the spare bed's got some sheets on it. We'll talk about the lying in the morning."

* * *

Elsewhere Boomer and Bubbles were also flying home.

"Gee," Boomer said after a while, "Sonic really didn't take us loosing SP and Mojo well."

"He never takes anything well," said Bubbles calmly, "but you defended you're self admirably. Left him in no doubt that it was Buttercups fault."

"Yes…" said Boomer nervously. He turned to Bubbles. "I… this sounds weid, but I didn't feel that I was always thinking of those words myself."

Bubbles looked back. "And that concerns you?" Boomer shrugged, but he couldn't ignore facts.

"Bubbles, you seem different somehow," he said. Bubbles laughed.

"Oh don't worry yourself about that," she said, "Why don't you just sit back and enjoy the ride."

Boomer looked at Bubbles again. In the dark, that blue glow was even more obvious. Her eyes sparkled with power, and her hair was softer and shinier then ever. Where ever he looked, there seemed to be an improvement. She was… perfect? Maybe only in his eyes, but that was good enough.

_

* * *

MJ was sat in the kitchen back home. Her mother and father had been fussing over her, but now they'd stood back half an inch. This was because Sonic was going to give her a lecture._

"_Thanks to your incompetent uncles' and aunts' I busted a gut getting the police to believe there was a clone, so you better pay attention," he said angrily. "Why did you break out so many super villains?"_

"_I don't know," said MJ ashamedly, "I just followed my instincts and that was what resulted." Sonic sighed._

"_Listen, you may have thought that following you instincts was the best thing to do, but it has caused us no end of trouble. You are half spider MJ, and you must always remember that's dangerous to everyone. You need to control your animal urges… is that a saucer of milk?"_

_MJ watched as Sonic lapped at it with his tongue for a while, before he realised where he was. He quickly regained his composer, and ignored Blossom's and Eddy's laughter_

"_Well, anyway... the point is…"_

A gust of ice could wind woke SP up. She shivered, and looked around. She was still on top of the skyscraper, completely alone. Rejected by all. She started to sob quietly. It wasn't fair; all she'd tried to do was to fulfil her purpose, the purpose for which she'd been created. And now she was alone. Her brothers and sisters were dead, and Mojo had abandoned her. She sniffed again, as tears ran down her cheek. What had she done to deserve this?

Presently, SP became to cold to cry anymore. She had to find somewhere warm to sleep. But before she went, she came to a decision. Mojo, MJ and Bubbles, the three people who'd put her here would die... painfully. Along with anyone else that tried to stop her. She'd show them, she'd show them all…

* * *

Okay that's it for now. I'll be starting another sequel soon, so I'd just like to thank my loyal reviewer SithKnight-Galen for his support and ideas, and also the others that reviewed. Okay, I'll see you next time. 


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